Last weekend David Shoebridge and Senator Senator Richard Di Natale (now Australian Greens Parliamentary Leader) spoke at the Hemposium, part of the annual MardiGrass Festival. MardiGrass is held in the small town of Nimbin in northern NSW and draws thousands of attendees from over the world to speak frankly and honestly about cannabis law reform.
David spoke about the expanding use of police drug dogs, civil liberties and law reform. Drug dogs are increasingly used by police at festivals, bars and on public transport without a warrant. When a drug dog indicates that a person has drugs, police use that as a basis for a search, despite the fact that two thirds of dog indications are false positives. In NSW over 17,000 people a year are subjected to these searches.
Over 700 people a year are also subjected to strip searches, which can involve the victim being completely naked and forced to squat over a mirror. These incredibly invasive searches are just as ineffective as the regular searches, finding no drugs at least 60% of the time.
Even when police do find drugs, it is normally a small amount for personal consumption. Only 2.44% of searches result in a supply conviction, and many of these are under “deem supply” laws which provide that any amount of drugs above a certain threshold must be for sale, even without any evidence.
The use of drug dogs particularly affects the normal police targets – young people, poor people, Aboriginal and LGBTI communities. One of the main locations of drug dog searches is public transport, despite the dogs being less effective here than anywhere else. High-level drug dealers don’t have to catch the train, especially to transport drugs – they drive BMWs.
It’s not just any railway station that attracts drug dogs. Police target their operations at particular locations.
A passenger at Redfern Station is 6.5 times more likely to be stopped and searched than a passenger at Central, but drugs are less likely to be found at Redfern. This massive over-policing affects students going to Sydney University and the significant Aboriginal population in Redfern.
The LGBTI community is also targeted, with Sydney Mardi Gras always featuring a heavy police presence and drug dogs at the after party.
David spoke about the limits of police search powers. Officers are only supposed to conduct a search if they have a reasonable suspicion of finding drugs. It is up for debate whether a drug dog indication is sufficient given a 64%-72% false positive rate. Police have now taken to saying that it is not only a dog indication but other mysterious “intelligence”. The figures suggest that being at Redfern station seems to fit the bill.
If you are searched:
Do:
- State that you do not consent to a search
- Record details of the officers involved and the conversation
- Get a friend to film the interaction from a few metres away (it is not illegal to film police)
- If the police do find drugs, give them your name and address
Don’t:
- Physically resist police
- Give any information to police (except your name and address if they find drugs)
David concluded by speaking about the NSW Greens’ Sniff Off campaign against the use of drug dogs without a warrant. An overview of the campaign can be found here.
As well as his main talk, David participated in the panel discussion “Let’s get the police out of healthcare… and the sniffer dogs too” with other speakers. When asked what one change he would like to see in drug legislation David spoke about the NSW Greens policy to legalise and regulate cannabis.
Senator Richard Di Natale, now parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens attended to speak about his efforts to change the law around medicinal cannabis. Details of the Australian Greens moves to legislate for medicinal cannabis can be found here.
Other speakers at the festival included Dr Alex Wodak, president of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation and Will Tregoning from Unharm. Unharm’s Ditch the Dogs petition can be found here.
Young Greens also handed out material detailing police search powers to festival attendees and spoke to them about the Sniff Off campaign. The next big event in the campaign is our Sniff Off Party, featuring performances from Paul Mac and others. Tickets are available here.