What was your experience policing drug use when you first became a police officer?
When I joined to New South Wales Police Force in 1970 I was first stationed in the Eastern Suburbs in Sydney. As a junior officer I occasionally encountered people in possession of small amounts of cannabis or illicitly obtained pharmaceuticals such as Valium. Rarely did I come across other drugs. In those days, the policing of illicit drugs seemed very straightforward and not as complex as it is today.
When did you first learn about harm reduction?
By 1985 I was a Detective Sergeant stationed at the Drug Squad and a new phenomena had hit the established injecting drug scene – HIV/AIDS. The key strategy introduced by the Government of the day was the Needle and Syringe Exchange Programme (NSEP and later Needle Syringe Program NSP). For this programme to work the NSW Police needed to have clear and concise guidelines in the form of a Commissioner’s directive together with service-wide training to ensure all police both understood the nature and importance of NSEP but, importantly, supported its objectives. I was given the job of drafting the directive and developing the training package.
Has your attitude/opinions about harm reduction changed over time?
As I worked up the Commissioner’s directive and the training programme the notion of ‘harm reduction’ as we now know it struck me for both its simplicity and common sense. It was also clear to me that whilst there was unqualified support from the senior management within the Force there was also some early reservations among individual operational police that this strategy may lead to an increase in injecting drug use and other associated problems. While some in the general community may still have similar reservations the growing support – albeit passively – by the vast majority of police is evidenced by the normal day to day operations of NSPs as well as the Methadone Programmes and even the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre at Kings Cross.
How would you describe the contradictions in police work in terms of drug law enforcement and harm reduction?
In the strictest sense policing is about prosecuting offenders but in the case of the less serious drug offences there is a recognition that to blindly do so does not alleviate the problem for either the individual or the community. The aims and objectives inherent within the strategy of drug harm reduction is seen by police as a practical means to reducing the collateral damage caused by drug use. Police are fairly practical people and while they too sense the frustration felt by family and the broader community towards those who continue to use drugs they can clearly see the advantages that come with a harm reduction strategy.
How can police best balance the needs of the community e.g. those who complain about visible drug use and businesses who want the streets clean, and public health needs arising from drug use? What strategies would you recommend for police to use?
In 2000 I was appointed to the position of Commander at Cabramatta Local Area Command which I held for 2 years. Briefly, at that time Cabramatta was the subject of considerable political and media attention because of the prevalence of street level heroin dealing. There was evidence of drug use in alleys, shop fronts and local streets caused by the influx of drug users from all over the Sydney area. The size and nature of the problem was unique for its time and a strong consistent policing presence was required to both discourage street level dealing and people travelling to the area to purchase heroin. To balance this policing effort against the need for these very same people to access the public health services was a challenge.
While there was some level of criticism from the local public health sector all efforts were made to ameliorate the difficulties they were experiences in servicing their clients there was also the added need to acknowledge the right of the local community to expect to live there without the fallout from the street level drug dealing.
Fortunately in a relatively short period of time people stopped coming to Cabramatta to purchase heroin and the problems experienced by the public health services as a consequence of the strong police presence ceased.
What are some of the key messages and strategies that are best used to convince police to support harm reduction?
Key to gaining police support for a harm reduction strategy is firstly, a strong directive from the head of the organisation, secondly, reinforcement of that message from the rest of senior management and thirdly a well balanced programme of awareness training complemented with involvement from the public health sector.
