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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

patches inside the hallway cupboard. In the loungeroom, Police further located used syringes, in the entertainment unit, and under the offender’s bed. Inside the kitchen, Police located a large quantity of used syringes in side a open kitchen bin. Many syringes contained residue and traces of blood. Police located further empty boxes of Bulk Pack’s of syringes of the same type and quality as located about the unit. Police also located during the search, a large number of plastic resealable bags, throughout the unit. Police also located a set of scales, which he stated, “You know what they are for.” (e) During the search of the premises, Police located paperwork, that depicts orders, which is indicative of drug supply of the names and money values. 268 Other event narratives that we examined did not directly relate the items that police seized to the indicia that define drug premises in the Act, but almost all event narratives outlined items that police seized from the premises. In a focus group we conducted at Cabramatta police, we asked officers about the role of event narratives, and one officer said: ... it’s your facts sheet … ninety per cent of the time … you just put in your proofs … you set out your background … the way I teach my staff, is that the event narrative is your facts sheet, so that the boss can read everything that’s happened. 269 5.5. Indicia of drug premises in the Act We will discuss the indicia set out in the legislation that may be used to define drug premises below. Data on how often police noted that particular indicia were evident on identified drug premises is provided, and any concerns that were brought to our attention about particular indicia are discussed. 5.5.1. Section 11(2)(a): Evidence that a police officer was wilfully prevented from entering drug premises It is an offence to wilfully prevent a police officer from entering or re-entering premises. 270 Evidence that this had occurred is also one of the indicia that can be used to define drug premises. 271 During the review period, six charges were laid for wilfully preventing a police officer from entering or re-entering premises. The incident documented below is an example of a circumstance in which this is alleged to have occurred. 272 As this extract from the event narrative also suggests, police suspected that their entry had been delayed so that the occupants could flush items down the toilet: Upon arrival at the premises Police knocked on the front door and announced their office. The defendant [name] opened the wooden door slightly and upon sighting police slammed it shut. A sound of the door being barricaded by objects inside was heard. Police again announced their office and lawful purpose. At this point the defendant was sighted in the bathroom of the unit flushing something down the toilet. A sledge hammer was used to force the front door. Police at the rear of the premises could hear the occupants yelling “Flush it, flush it.” Police eventually gain entry into the premises after forcing a bed and wooden sleeper away from the door. The defendant was sighted standing in the toilet flushing it. The defendant was requested to come into the loungeroom, however refused and became violent. The defendant was forced from the toilet onto the bed where he continued to thrash his arms and legs. He was eventually handcuffed and restrained. Two other occupants of the unit who attempted to jump out of the rear window were also detained and handcuffed. 273 Later on, during the execution of the search warrant, the defendant referred to above requested a can of Coca Cola. Police gave him a drink, which he then emptied onto a table in the lounge room that “contained cannabis residue”. 274 He was then taken to the police station, and charged with various offences, including allowing his premises to be used as drug premises, hindering and obstructing the execution of a search warrant, and resisting an officer in the execution of their duties. 275 However, we do not know if the obstruction of the police entry was used at court as indicia that the premises was drug premises. 268 COPS event narrative, Greater Metropolitan Region, Drug Premises Incident 24. 269 Focus group, Cabramatta police, 2 July 2003. 270 Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act, s. 9. It is not necessary for premises to be proved to be drug premises to be convicted of this offence. 271 Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act, s. 11(2)(a). 272 However, it appears that this person was charged under section 9 of the Search Warrants Act 1985, with the offence of obstructing a person executed a search warrant. Both this, and the offence in section 9 of the Drug Premises Act involve obstructing a person in the execution of a search warrant, except the maximum penalty is double the penalty that is contained in the Drug Premises Act. The other difference between the two offences is that the drug premises section 9 offence includes additional provisions that relate to delaying an officer from entering premises, giving alarm, and notifying another person of the presence of an officer. 273 COPS event narrative, Greater Metropolitan Region, Incident 12, 24 October 2002. 274 Ibid. 275 Ibid. 56 NSW Ombudsman Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001
5.5.2. Section 11(2)(b): fortifications External or internal constructions, often referred to by police as fortifications, are indicia to which regard may be had in determining if premises are drug premises. 276 Also included are bolts, bars and chains, or any means or device which are likely to have been fitted to premises for the purpose of giving alarm, or of preventing, obstructing or delaying entry to a premises. 277 One of the key concerns expressed in submissions to our discussion paper and Parliamentary debate was the inclusion of security measures as one of the indicia that can define drug premises. These concerns centre on the significance that should be attached to the presence of security on premises, and the types of security measures that could be mobilised as evidence that premises are drug premises. For example, it was argued that measures such as steel grills on windows and doors were commonplace security devices, and should not be used to define drug premises. In their submission to our discussion paper, the NSW Legal Aid Commission wrote that the “existence of security devices can equally be a reflection of concern with the avoidance of property crime rather than drug supply”. 278 One member of the Legislative Council, during Parliamentary debate on the Act, also urged that it was “crucial to consider the conditions of a particular area to determine whether the security used is excessive”. 279 We sought advice from a home insurance agency about what they considered to be a reasonable level of security on premises in different parts of NSW. The home insurer provided us with a list of 331 suburbs and towns in NSW that were classified by the insurer as minimum security, and we were advised that in order for the minimum security needs to be met, the home must have: Double cylinder deadlocks and/or security grilles and/or key operated patio bolts fitted to all external accessible doors, and keyed locks and/or security grilles and/or keyed shutters fitted to all accessible windows, or an intruder alarm that meets our specifications. 280 As the data below indicates, the security measures that police describe on identified drug premises ranged from deadlocks and security grills to sophisticated camera surveillance systems. In the following section, we will discuss types of security measures noted by police on identified drug premises and how often these occurred. 5.5.2.1. How often were fortifications noted by police on drug premises The table below shows the number of times security measures were noted by police in relation to identified drug premises. In all but one police region, the Inner Metropolitan, fortifications were noted in relation to less than half of the identified drug premises. Number of Premises Figure 2. Security measures noted on identified drug premises 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Greater Inner Metropolitan Metropolitan Region Region Northern Region Security Measures Noted Security Measures Not Noted Southern Region Western Region Region Commands and State Crime Command State Crime Command Source: COPS event narratives and police search warrant documents. Security measures includes surveillance cameras as well as fortifications. The number of identified drug premises shown in the above chart is less than the total number for Cabramatta and the State Crime Command, because incidents in which the Act was used on motor vehicles have been excluded from this data. The figure for State Crime Command also includes one use of the legislation by Special Crime and Internal Affairs (SCIA). Greater Metropolitan Region Inner Metropolitan Region Northern Region Southern Region Western Region State Crime Command Security Measures Noted Security Measures Not Noted 45 31 7 11 8 1 6 6 4 3 13 4 276 Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act, s. 11(2)(b). 277 Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act, s. 11(2)(b). 278 Submission, NSW Legal Aid Commission, 30 July 2003. 279 The Hon. R Jones, NSWPD, 7 June 2001, p. 14631. 280 Insurance Agency, “List of Minimum Security Requirements in NSW”, Email, 3 February 2003. NSW Ombudsman Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001 57
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 and 16: Chapter 2. Methodology In this chap
Page 17 and 18: 2.3.5. Health data NSP distribution
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: 5.2. Recommendation That Parliament
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
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 and 138:
Other forms of organisation in evid
Page 139 and 140:
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
show all

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

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?