Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001 - NSW ...

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Figure 21: State-wide drug charges laid against persons found on drug premises, under the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act, and the Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act, 1 July 2001 to June 30 2003. 150 120 121 Cultivation Manufacture Number of charges 90 60 80 Possession Supply 28 30 20 3 4 6 0 0 Inner Metro Greater Metro 21 12 1 Northern 0 22 1 11 Southern 0 13 5 9 Western 3 Source: NSW Police Data extracted from the COPS database, July 2003. Type of charge There are several limitations on this data: • police are required to weigh drugs in the container, such as a foil or bag, in which they are found. Therefore, the drug weights below are likely to be an over-estimate of the actual quantity of the prohibited drug seized 770 • drug types are based on police assessments and may not be accurate 771 • some data on drug weights and types 772 was not included in event narratives. In other cases, police did not record drug type they suspected it was. We have directly transcribed the information provided by police. There are some instances in which a drug find is described, for example, as “28 foils” or “white rock substance” rather than as a known drug type. These are listed in the tables below as “other quantified measurements (not in grams)”. Quantities of cannabis found on drug premises are also included in the tables below, though the use of premises for the supply of cannabis and its derivatives cannot be the basis for obtaining a drug premises search warrant, or for laying charges under the Act. 773 Charges for offences relating to cannabis and its derivatives can nonetheless be laid under the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act against people found on premises. In the Appendix of this report, we have set out data on the drug seizures made from each identified drug premises in NSW over the review period. 8.5.5. Prohibited drugs seized on drug premises in NSW The table below shows the quantities of particular types of prohibited drugs that were seized on drug premises over the two year review period. 774 770 In the NSW Police Service Handbook, police are advised that the exhibit officer “estimates the weight of the container and assesses the net weight of the drug.” Police are also advised to weigh the empty drug bag and take its weight into account, and if an assessment of the drug weight is not able to be made, police are instructed to “seek help from a more experienced officer”. NSW Police Service Handbook, “Prohibited Drugs and Plants”, p. 18. 771 Information about drugs seized in Property Seizure Exhibit Forms, for example, is recorded before a drug has been sent for analysis (though drugs are not always sent for analysis). 772 Missing or incomplete data on drug types or quantities was checked in respect of those LACs we audited. Police were usually able to provide the additional information we requested, and this has been included. 773 Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act, s. 3. If police only find cannabis on premises, however, they may lay charges for cannabis-related offences that are contained the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act, such as the possession, supply or cultivation of prohibited plants in section 23 of that Act. 774 Drugs located in uses of the Act by the State Crime Command are included in this graph. 138 NSW Ombudsman Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001
Table 19. Drugs Located, State-wide, 141 instances Drug type Total Incidents of Drug Seizures Quantity of Drugs Seized (grams unless specified) Average (grams) 775 Heroin 39 5956.4 23.96 Cocaine 13 245.18 0.9 Ecstasy 25 142.83 + 9149 tablets 1.16 Amphetamine 26 524.06 3.86 Cannabis Other Source: COPS event narratives and search warrant documents 62 3403.8 + 43 plants + 600 seeds + 25 bags 36 213.05 white powder/rock substance, 3059 tablets 24.89 3.05 In the tables below, we have set out the quantities of each particular drug type seized in each region. 776 8.5.6. Prohibited drugs located on drug premises in the Greater Metropolitan Region Drugs were located on 62 occasions, 777 or nearly 80%, of the instances in which the Drug Premises Act was used in this region. Table 20. Drugs located, Greater Metropolitan Region Drug type Total Incidents of Drug Seizures Quantity of Drug Seizures (grams) Quantity of Drugs Seized (not measured in grams) Lowest Amount (grams) Highest Amount (grams) Heroin 25 2136.21 28 foils 0.06 1720 Cocaine 9 108.27 0 0.26 71 Ecstasy 6 39.8 599.5 tablets 5.4 34.4 Amphetamine 13 325.06 0 2.74 90.1 Methadone 3 0 9 bottles N/a N/a Cannabis 33 1509.79 Other 22 143.91 Source: COPS event narratives and search warrant documents 34 plants, 550 seeds, 12 bags leaf, 1 foil stick, 3 capsules of cannabis oil 2251 tablets, 13 foils of white powder, 1 vial stanzanol, 2 tabs LSD 0.23 315.7 0.4 paracetamol 71.2 white powder 775 The “average” has been calculated by including those incidents in which no prohibited drugs were located and only those incidents that are quantified in grams. 776 Drugs located by State Crime Command are not included in each of the tables for each Police Region. Data on drugs located by State Crime Command is presented later in this chapter. 777 Finds of drug residue have not been included. NSW Ombudsman Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001 139
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Review of the Police Powers (Drug P
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Contents Preface ..................
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Chapter 11. Drug move-on powers in
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Acknowledgements This report was re
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Part One. Background. Chapter 1. In
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Drug offences, unlike for example,
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elieve is in a public place with th
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Chapter 2. Methodology In this chap
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2.3.5. Health data NSP distribution
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As the table indicates, more than o
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2.4.7. Complaints The NSW Ombudsman
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NSW Police advised us that calculat
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Another data limitation is that COP
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Chapter 3. Legislative survey This
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Once police have entered the suspec
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The table below sets out the penalt
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(c) that the nature and extent of t
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The Act contains four additional in
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A fortification removal notice is r
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For example, section 39(3) of the Q
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Part Two. Drug premises Chapter 4.
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In the police training manual on th
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Case study 2. Drug premises search
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4.2.4. Presenting the application b
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A Crime Manager we interviewed from
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applications. In this Act, an inves
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Chapter 5. The definition of drug p
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5.2. Recommendation That Parliament
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5.5.2. Section 11(2)(b): fortificat
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In our chapter on Cabramatta, we di
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The woman was found guilty of allow
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5.5.5. Means or devices for drug us
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Number of Premises Figure 7. Razor
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However, no other evidence of drug
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• magnum revolver and a 0.357 mag
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5.5.8. Section 11(2)(g): large amou
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The magistrate noted that there wer
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In relation to the money located on
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5.7.6. Cars as drug premises As we
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… rather than being on the edge o
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Chapter 6. The Drug Premises Act -
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• the offence of being found on,
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With reverse onus, we didn’t have
Page 87 and 88: In the following section, we will d
Page 89 and 90: Officers from the State Crime Comma
Page 91 and 92: The second reading speech, which gi
Page 93 and 94: In the granny flat, police found ca
Page 95 and 96: Table 6. Pleas entered and court ou
Page 97 and 98: The magistrate said that he had a r
Page 99 and 100: 13. Allowing use of premises as dru
Page 101 and 102: The defendant says he was not there
Page 103 and 104: Figure 13: Ages of people charged w
Page 105 and 106: Table 12. Number of charges for var
Page 107 and 108: Chapter 7. Cabramatta 7.1. Introduc
Page 109 and 110: No. of Drug Premises Figure 14: Num
Page 111 and 112: Table 13. Information about drug pr
Page 113 and 114: It should be clear that this legisl
Page 115 and 116: The unit was in disarray, with spar
Page 117 and 118: 7.5. Level of drug supply the law i
Page 119 and 120: 7.5.3 Firearms, weapons and high le
Page 121 and 122: 7.6. Charges laid under the Drug Pr
Page 123 and 124: 7.6.4. Young Asian people and drug
Page 125 and 126: Of these 52 people, 31 people pled
Page 127 and 128: 7.8. Conclusion: Impact of the Drug
Page 129 and 130: By way of comment, the continuing a
Page 131 and 132: Chapter 8. Targeting drug supply Pa
Page 133 and 134: Table 18. Drug Misuse and Trafficki
Page 135 and 136: Low level drug suppliers are more l
Page 137: Other forms of organisation in evid
Page 141 and 142: Table 23. Drugs located, Northern R
Page 143 and 144: However, the submission concluded b
Page 145 and 146: To begin with, telephone intercepts
Page 147 and 148: The prohibited drugs that were loca
Page 149 and 150: One factor that appears to have per
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Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001 - NSW ...

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