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

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The heroin drought has led to sharp falls in heroin use, expenditure on heroin and the number of heroin overdoses. The drought also appears to have prompted some heroin users to seek methadone treatment and others to consume more of other drugs, such as cocaine. 38 In 2004 BOCSAR released the previous year’s recorded crime statistics that showed a notable reduction in half of the major offence categories, particularly property crime offences, and attributed this reduction in large part to the heroin drought. 39 Another study by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) examined the impact of the heroin drought at several sites in NSW, including Cabramatta, but had not been published at the time of writing. 40 It is beyond the scope of this review to investigate the particular impact that the heroin drought may have had on the implementation of the Drug Premises Act. For example, it has not been possible to gauge the impact that the heroin drought may have had on the frequency of the use of the drug move-on powers in Cabramatta or to determine the extent to which the heroin drought accounts for any changes in the street-level drug market since the introduction of the drug move-on powers. 2.3. Research data and sources The key research sources that were utilised in our review of the implementation of the Drug Premises Act are outlined below. 2.3.1. NSW Police records Police records on the use of the Drug Premises Act came from the following sources: • data provided by NSW Police on the frequency, location and use of the legislation, including demographic information about people who were charged under the Act or issued with drug move-ons • search warrant documents • Computerised Operational Policing System (COPS) information, particularly event narratives relating to the use of the drug premises and drug move-on powers in the Act • Police Weekly • NSW Police Intranet • training material from the NSW Police College • Operations and Crime Review (OCR) transcripts 41 and • interviews and focus groups with police. 2.3.2. Court records We examined 140 court transcripts relating to the use of the Drug Premises Act. 2.3.3. Representations A legal centre provided us with representations that the centre had made to Cabramatta LAC for the withdrawal of charges in relation to five instances in which charges had been laid for disobeying a drug move-on. 2.3.4. Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research Information on penalties, pleas and sentences relating to people who were charged under the drug premises provisions of the Act was provided by BOCSAR at our request. 38 Ibid. 39 BOCSAR, “Media Release: NSW Recorded Crime Statistics 2003”, 15 April 2004. 40 One of the research questions of this study, entitled “The causes, effects and implications of the heroin shortage in NSW, SA and Victoria”, is to “assess the effect of the heroin shortage on heroin and other drug use, public health, crime and the work of law enforcement, health and emergency services”. National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) Website, “Current Projects”, 4 May 2004. 41 OCRs are an internal mechanism within NSW Police to monitor the performance of each LAC in key areas of crime reduction, such as initiatives to deal with drug related crime or street-level dealing. Representatives from each LAC appear before the Commissioner of Police at OCRs and outline progress in addressing the particular crime problems that they face. 16 NSW Ombudsman Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001
2.3.5. Health data NSP distribution statistics were obtained from the South West Sydney Area Health Service. 42 We conducted interviews with health professionals and community workers in south west Sydney about the use of the Drug Premises Act in Cabramatta. 2.3.6. Interviews with drug users We conducted interviews with drug users in Cabramatta and Liverpool about the use of the drug move-on powers. 2.3.7. Other interviews and focus groups We conducted interviews with a range of community representatives in Cabramatta. One focus group was conducted with a drug user advocacy group about the legislation. A second focus group was conducted with a senior health professional, a representative from a sex worker advocacy group and a representative from a legal centre about a use of the Drug Premises Act in eastern Sydney. 2.3.8. Discussion paper submissions In July 2003, we distributed a discussion paper on the Drug Premises Act to about 500 agencies and individuals including: • NSW Police • legal practitioners • Area Health Services in NSW • relevant government departments • needle and syringe exchange outlets • drug user advocacy groups and • academics. The discussion paper canvassed key issues that had emerged concerning the operation of the Act and invited comment on these issues. We received 29 submissions in response to our discussion paper. 2.3.9. Complaints During the two year review period, we received one complaint about the use of the drug premises legislation. 2.3.10. Other sources A range of other information was also examined, including parliamentary debates and media reports about the Act. We also obtained information from other agencies, such as a home insurer, to investigate particular research questions. 2.4. Research methods 2.4.1. Analysis of event narratives In the NSW Police Handbook, police are advised to note down information about an event at the scene, and to then record this information on COPS as soon as possible after their return to the police station. 43 We examined the event narratives relating to each of the 141 incidents in which the drug premises provisions in the Act were used. At our request, NSW Police conducted a search of the COPS database that produced a list of the event numbers relating to each incident in which charges were laid under the Drug Premises Act. We then extracted each of these event narratives from the COPS database for examination. NSW Police also provided a list of event numbers relating to uses of the drug move-on powers, and we audited a sample of event narratives totalling 476. 42 This Health Service is responsible for the delivery of health services, such as needle and syringe exchange, in suburbs such as Cabramatta and the neighbouring suburb of Liverpool. 43 NSW Police, NSW Police Handbook, Chapter C, p. 68. NSW Ombudsman Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001 17
Page 1 and 2: Review of the Police Powers (Drug P
Page 3 and 4: Contents Preface ..................
Page 5 and 6: Chapter 11. Drug move-on powers in
Page 7 and 8: Acknowledgements This report was re
Page 9 and 10: Part One. Background. Chapter 1. In
Page 11 and 12: Drug offences, unlike for example,
Page 13 and 14: elieve is in a public place with th
Page 15: Chapter 2. Methodology In this chap
Page 19 and 20: As the table indicates, more than o
Page 21 and 22: 2.4.7. Complaints The NSW Ombudsman
Page 23 and 24: NSW Police advised us that calculat
Page 25 and 26: Another data limitation is that COP
Page 27 and 28: Chapter 3. Legislative survey This
Page 29 and 30: Once police have entered the suspec
Page 31 and 32: The table below sets out the penalt
Page 33 and 34: (c) that the nature and extent of t
Page 35 and 36: The Act contains four additional in
Page 37 and 38: A fortification removal notice is r
Page 39 and 40: For example, section 39(3) of the Q
Page 41 and 42: Part Two. Drug premises Chapter 4.
Page 43 and 44: In the police training manual on th
Page 45 and 46: Case study 2. Drug premises search
Page 47 and 48: 4.2.4. Presenting the application b
Page 49 and 50: A Crime Manager we interviewed from
Page 51 and 52: applications. In this Act, an inves
Page 53 and 54: Chapter 5. The definition of drug p
Page 55 and 56: 5.2. Recommendation That Parliament
Page 57 and 58: 5.5.2. Section 11(2)(b): fortificat
Page 59 and 60: In our chapter on Cabramatta, we di
Page 61 and 62: The woman was found guilty of allow
Page 63 and 64: 5.5.5. Means or devices for drug us
Page 65 and 66: Number of Premises Figure 7. Razor
Page 67 and 68:
However, no other evidence of drug
Page 69 and 70:
• magnum revolver and a 0.357 mag
Page 71 and 72:
5.5.8. Section 11(2)(g): large amou
Page 73 and 74:
The magistrate noted that there wer
Page 75 and 76:
In relation to the money located on
Page 77 and 78:
5.7.6. Cars as drug premises As we
Page 79 and 80:
… rather than being on the edge o
Page 81 and 82:
Chapter 6. The Drug Premises Act -
Page 83 and 84:
• the offence of being found on,
Page 85 and 86:
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
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7.5.3 Firearms, weapons and high le
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7.6. Charges laid under the Drug Pr
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7.6.4. Young Asian people and drug
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Of these 52 people, 31 people pled
Page 127 and 128:
7.8. Conclusion: Impact of the Drug
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By way of comment, the continuing a
Page 131 and 132:
Chapter 8. Targeting drug supply Pa
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Table 18. Drug Misuse and Trafficki
Page 135 and 136:
Low level drug suppliers are more l
Page 137 and 138:
Other forms of organisation in evid
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Table 19. Drugs Located, State-wide
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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