Victories in drug war

THE life of a policeman can be hell and a recent incident where police where called to quell a domestic disturbance only to end up in hospital proves what a difficult career policing is.

Letters to the editor and discussions down the pub generally reckon our NT Police are respected, and – apart from hiding the speed cameras to raise money – they do a good job.

One section of the community, and I refer to those who are involved in the drug trade, seem to think our NT Police are a bunch of amateurs and the drug industry is alive and well and flourishing throughout the Territory.

Police Commissioner Paul White has a slightly different view on the success of stamping out the drug problem and he and his officers have had some amazing successes in the past few months.

Mr White admits they have yet to win the war but reckons they have won many significant battles.

To back up this claim the Drug Enforcement Section of our police force in the period from July 1 last year to the end of last week had made 78 arrests, seized 13,438kg of cannabis, along with 2031kg of methylamphetamine.

Those figures show the people in the drug industry must be hurting and if life continues to be difficult for them here in the Territory, then maybe the lowlifes might pack their bags and move out of town.

The Drug Enforcement Section now has a couple of additions in the form of drug detection dogs that only started work just before Christmas but have already made their mark.

The dogs have carried out 297 searches, ranging from barges, planes, ferries and commercial and private premises. They’ve helped find 4502kg of cannabis, 102.3g of cannabis seed, 11 cannabis plants, and 24.22kg of kava.

The dogs made headlines last week when they reacted to garden gnomes containing 85g of cannabis at Alice Springs that was destined to end up in a remote community.

It’s hard to trick these dogs and many have tried and failed.

Several responses have resulted in cannabis being located in coffee tins, plastic water bottles sealed with chewing gum, a boutique powder bottle with tomato sauce smeared around the outside.

Those people involved in the unlawful manufacture and distribution of drugs in the Territory must also be feeling the pinch.

There have been 15 clandestine drug laboratories detected.

That’s an increase from six laboratories last year – 34,885kg of chemicals have been seized and 15 arrests made for the manufacture of dangerous drugs.

To prove we’re up there with the best of them in fighting this problem, the Northern Territory will host an international Chemical Diversion Congress in September.

This is a collaborative effort by police organisations, the chemical industry and others to work together to stamp out the manufacture and distribution of drugs made in clandestine laboratories.

All this work must be making life extremely difficult for the drug dealers who destroy the lives of so many Territorians.

Mr White said he realises police haven’t won the war but with those facts and figures, he must be making life a lot more difficult than it was 12 months ago.

Ask our younger generation of night owls – they’ll admit it’s a lot harder to get drugs around town than it was this time last year.

Drugs are not only a problem around the big towns – the communities are affected as well.

This is a bit of a surprise.

We are led to believe these people didn’t have big incomes and only a small percentage have regular jobs and a steady income.

An example of this was on January 19. Police searched a Tiwi address and found a trafficable quantity of cannabis.

Further investigations led to the restraint and forfeiture of $25,000 in a bank account, and a further search warrant located 3.2kg of cannabis in a storage shed.

The battle against this ongoing illicit drug problem is probably never going to go away.

But while the law says it’s illegal then our police have an obligation to do their job and uphold the law.

We can also do our bit to stamp out the dealers and our police will always welcome any information you have, so why not dob in a druggie to police?

You’ll be doing the community a favour. Maybe save someone’s life.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Wed, 13 April 2005
Source: Northern Territory News (Australia)
Author: Col Newman
Copyright: 2005 Northern Territory News
Contact: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://ntnews.news.com.au/