SNIFFER DOG RAIDS

The President of the Council described Saturday night’s sniffer dog raids in the Valley as stunt policing; a gross waste of police resources and a gross violation of the right to privacy

Mr Cope says “ Police claims about the these raids ignore the facts as found by the New South Wales Ombudsman in a report on similar police practices in New South Wales.”

The evidence is that the dogs get it wrong 75% of the time. This means that 75% of the time innocent people are being humiliated by being searched in public.

Mr Beattie says the innocent having nothing to fear. But the evidence shows that 75% of the people being searched are innocent. They have just had their privacy trashed in the name of scoring cheap political points.

The NSW Ombudsman in a report released in September this year after a 2 year inquiry found no evidence that the use of sniffer dogs disrupted street dealing in any sustained fashion. The evidence also showed that the use of police sniffer dogs didn’t reduce drug related crime. Nor did their use lead to any increase in perceptions of public safety.

Mr Cope says, “Even more damning was the fact that overwhelmingly those arrested only had small quantities of drugs for personal use. Only 1.38% of people were prosecuted for having a supply quantity.”

We say that the police should devote their resources to chasing real criminals – the suppliers and serious dealers not harassing young people out enjoying themselves on a Saturday night.

Mr Cope says, “The council calls upon the government to stop diverting police resources into expensive stunts and to direct them at the real criminals at the big end of the drug supply chain.”