Two years ago the NSW Ombudsman studied police and their drug sniffer dogs for two years and released a preliminary report showing that the dogs did a woeful job of catching dealers and reducing drug-related crime, supposedly the aims of the program.
Since then the government has suppressed the final report. Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon now says she has forced the report out into the open, with the support of upper house MPs.
The preliminary report showed the dogs did a woeful job of catching ANYONE, with around 80 per cent of searches proving fruitless and most of the 'successful' ones revealing only small quantities of cannabis.
Out of around 2,500 searches on trains, for instance, they found only 1.5 grams of heroin and NO trafficable quantities of any drug.
Still the police continue their search-and-destroy blitz on Kings Cross, claiming the operations are 'effective'. One can only conclude it is show policing to please shock jocks and the Murdoch press.
Unfortunately the grim sight of young people being semi-strip-searched and humiliated in the Cross continues to drive away both the search victims and sensitive souls who happen to wander by.
2011 Residents Association sees this as a prime cause of the retail decline of the Cross and has asked local police to at least conduct these searches in private as they are required to under Section 32 of the Police Powers & Responsibilities Act.
The police ignored this request, revealing their role as apparent political pawns of the government.
Picture: Police chased this young guy down the road with two sniffer dogs which then jumped on him, contravening operational guidelines. No drugs were found on the search victim -- as usual.
No comments:
Post a Comment