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

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Another submission we received from a health professional stated that intravenous drug users are often encouraged to take extra syringes with them to ensure that they are not left without a clean one overnight or on a weekend. 310 We are not aware of any cases in which syringes were the sole determinant in the police assessment that premises were drug premises. The chart below shows the number of times police noted that they found syringes on identified drug premises. Number of Premises Figure 4: Presence of syringes on identified drug premises by region command and State Crime Command 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Greater Metropolitan Region Inner Metropolitan Region Northern Region Syringe Found Syringe Not Found Southern Region Regions and State Crime Command Western Region State Crime Command Greater Metropolitan Region Inner Metropolitan Region Northern Region Southern Region Western Region Syringe Not Found Syringe Found 54 25 7 11 3 6 7 5 2 5 State Crime Command 13 5 Source: COPS event narratives and search warrant documents Syringes were found at about 66% of the identified drug premises in the Inner Metropolitan, Northern and Western Region and just under 50% of the identified drug premises in the Southern and Greater Metropolitan Regions. During the review period, we became aware of one incident in which the Drug Premises Act was used in relation to a safe house brothel in the Inner Metropolitan Region. When the drug premises search warrant was executed on these premises, officers seized a large quantity of used and unused syringes and other drug paraphernalia. 311 We were advised that for several weeks after the incident, the safe house brothel refused to accept deliveries of clean syringes from the local needle and syringe exchange service. This appears to have been because there was some confusion after this incident about whether the safe house brothel should continue to stock clean syringes. According to a representative of a sex workers” advocacy group we spoke to, the manager of the brothel said that “he would not be keeping any of that equipment on the premises, and that they had actually thrown out every single spoon, swab, cotton wool ball, syringe and related item”. 312 Local health authorities also expressed their concern to us about the potential impact of this incident on public health. 313 They advised us that other safe house brothels in the area had also refused to accept clean syringes from their Needle and Syringe Exchange Service in the wake of this incident. 314 Police in another LAC told us that they “never seize syringes because it’s too dangerous”. 315 This comment appears to relate to Occupational Health and Safety concerns about contracting blood born viruses from injuries that may occur when handling used syringes. 310 Submission, Health Worker, Cabramatta, 30 July 2003. 311 Section 7(1) of the Drug Premises Act allows police to seize any thing that relates to an activity prohibited under the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985, including a syringe. 312 Focus Group, 14 April 2002. 313 Ibid. 314 Ibid. 315 Focus Group, Cabramatta LAC, 2 July 2003. 62 NSW Ombudsman Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001
5.5.5. Means or devices for drug use, manufacture or supply According to section 11(2)(d) of the Drug Premises Act, another matter to which regard may be had in determining if premises are drug premises is any “means or device used in the supply, manufacture or use of a prohibited drug”. 316 There are various items that are commonly used in connection with the unlawful supply of powder drugs like heroin, amphetamine, and cocaine. A mortar and pestle is sometimes used to break up large quantities of drugs. Cutting agents like glucose are used to dilute the strength of drugs, and to increase the profit gained from buying drugs wholesale and selling them on to the consumer. Powder drugs are usually cut into deals with objects like razors or the edges of plastic bankcards. Scales are often used to weigh deals for sale. Aluminium foil, small pieces of paper, or capsules are then used to wrap the drugs, and the deals may then be enclosed in tiny water balloons or in small, resealable plastic bags. On one premises in the Northern Region, police document that they found in a bedroom a range of items that they associated with drug supply, and explain the significance that they attached to the items: On a table was a small square of aluminium foil with an amount of fine white powder upon it. The foil was flat, and beside it was located a set of scales and a small scraping tool. A roll of aluminium foil was nearby on the bed with cut out portions consistent with that containing the powder. The powder is believed to be heroin, and the circumstances make it obvious that the items were a single “deal” of the drug in the process of being made. The aluminium foil roll suggests that a number of such “deals” have been made in the past. 317 Concerns were raised in a submission to our discussion paper, and in a focus group we conducted with a drug advocacy group, about the inclusion of means or devices that are used in the supply or manufacture of a prohibited drug as indicia that can define drug premises. The East Area Tenants Service argued in their submission to our discussion paper that: … items such as aluminium foil, plastic bags or syringes may be sufficient evidence for an offence under the Act. It is a concern that many everyday domestic items, or items connected with personal use of a drug found at the premises may result in an offence with respect to the sale and manufacture of a prohibited drug. 318 The figures below show the number of times police noted that they found items associated with various aspects of drug supply on identified drug premises, including: • drug packaging • scales • razors and other cutting implements • cutting agents and • other miscellaneous items associated with drug supply. 5.5.5.1. Drug packaging Drug packaging was the most common item associated with drug supply found on identified drug premises. This includes foil, balloons and plastic resealable bags, all of which are commonly used to package drug deals. On one occasion, packing tape was used to wrap a larger quantity of drugs. The table below shows for each NSW Police Region, the proportion of drug premises in which drug packaging was located. 316 Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act, s 11(2)(d). 317 COPS event narrative, Northern Region, Drug Premises Incident 3. 318 Submission, East Area Tenants Service, received, 1 August 2003. NSW Ombudsman Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001 63
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Review of the Police Powers (Drug P
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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 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: The woman was found guilty of allow
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
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The unit was in disarray, with spar
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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
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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
Page 133 and 134:
Table 18. Drug Misuse and Trafficki
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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
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Table 23. Drugs located, Northern R
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However, the submission concluded b
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To begin with, telephone intercepts
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The prohibited drugs that were loca
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One factor that appears to have per
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