Carr sools police on to suspected drug houses
By Geesche Jacobsen, Sydney Morning Herald, 28 Mar 2001

NSW police will get unprecedented powers to fight the war against drugs, including the right to seize houses they suspect are being used for dealing and to charge people seen entering or leaving those houses.

The new laws will apply across the State, although the Premier made clear yesterday they have been prompted by what he called "very, very serious problems" at Cabramatta.

Under a package Mr Carr announced in State Parliament, police will be given powers to "move on" people they suspect of being go-betweens for drug dealers. They will be able to arrest those who act as lookouts or guards at houses used for the supply of drugs.

The owners of "drug houses" will be compelled to end their use for dealing or face the possibility of confiscation by the State, regardless of whether drugs have been found on the property.

This tightens existing legislation that allows houses to be seized if drugs have been found.

Under the new system, 16 extra police will concentrate solely on Cabramatta.

Treatment will be compulsory for addicts on bail, and drug treatment places, education and welfare services will be expanded.

New police powers to charge people associated with so-called drug houses were designed to fix a legal loophole that prevented police from laying charges unless they found drugs on the premises, Mr Carr said.

The laws relating to drug houses will carry a one-year jail penalty for a first offence and five years for a second offence.

Between 50 and 80 heavily fortified homes with sophisticated warning systems are believed to be operating as drug houses around Cabramatta.

The commander of the Greater Hume region, Assistant Police Commissioner Clive Small, acknowledged the new laws "essentially" shift the burden of proof from police to people detained for entering suspected drug houses, who will have to prove their lawful purpose for being there.

"You can't say that we are going to fix Cabramatta's problems. What I can say is that we are going to make it much better for the citizens of Cabramatta," he said.

The "move-on" powers come as heroin supply has dried up, increasing its price ten-fold in the past three months. The heroin shortage has increased the number of addicts looking for drugs on the streets of Cabramatta.

Mr Carr said the laws should be passed by the end of June. "It is reasonable to expect these changes may swell prison numbers," he said, vowing to build more jails if needed.

A "Tactical Action Group" of 90 officers covering the Greater Hume region would be largely devoted to the problems of Cabramatta.

Ten drug detectives, six bicycle patrols and drug detection dogs would be added to the 108 police officers currently deployed in the suburb.

A review of the Bail Act would allow compulsory treatment and staying away from Cabramatta to become a condition of bail for drug addicts.

The package, while broadly welcomed by those calling for action on Cabramatta, was criticised by civil libertarians.

The vice-president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Ms Pauline Wright, warned that drug houses needed to be carefully defined to avoid targeting the homes of ordinary citizens.

Mr Ross Treyvaud, an anti-drugs campaigner and head of the Cabramatta Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the announcement, but said it needed funding and commitment to work.

Fairfield Councillor Thang Ngo described it as an admission of failure and a Government backdown.