Organised crime is overpowering authorities in drug war, says veteran investigator – Sydney Morning Herald

The comments, from an experienced law enforcement official who has spent decades heavily involved in organised crime investigations, add to concerns recently aired by Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Nigel Ryan about 90 per cent of criminal networks operating unchecked.

Mr OConnor, who was a NSW Police detective in the 1980s and 1990s before joining the commission, urged the state government to act on the landmark ice inquiry, which in January 2020 handed down 109 recommendations designed to tackle drug use.

Attorney-General Mark Speakman previously said a response was imminent and drug consumption had to be viewed as a health issue. In an interim response to the ice inquiry, the government under former premier Gladys Berejiklian rejected outright five recommendations, including supervised injecting centres and pill-testing.

Ms Berejiklians government also backed away from a proposal for a three-strike policy for people caught with drugs, with penalty infringement notices handed out three times before a criminal penalty is imposed.

NSW is expanding the specialist Drug Court, which seeks to keep drug-dependent offenders out of prison, to four locations.

Mr OConnor said the federal government was failing to advance long overdue laws that could have a real impact on organised crime networks by targeting the money laundering arrangements they depend on to legitimise the proceeds of their activities.

Facing hostility from industry groups, a tranche of planned anti-money laundering laws to impose tougher reporting requirements on lawyers, accountants and real estate agents whose expertise is critical for the sophisticated processes used by criminals has not been passed.

A register of beneficial ownership is also needed to determine the actual owners behind entities who can currently be obscured from authorities by complex corporate structures, Mr OConnor said.

Policing of organised crime will not stop the drug trade, Tim OConnor argues. Credit:

He said organised crime was difficult to measure, but it was fuelling all kinds of overt and destructive criminal activity, such as the gang violence in south-west Sydney between the Hamzy and Alameddine networks.

He said the only way to substantively curb the drug trade was to undermine demand by changing peoples attitudes to recognise the health risks and the murders, kidnappings and assaults associated with organised crime and, in the case of cocaine, the vicious cartels in South America.

We need a generational change. We have to start off with young children today who are going to be the drug buyers in future and give them proper education as to why drugs are bad, Mr OConnor said.

A lot of people who actually indulge in drug activity are not criminals. There is massive recreational use of cocaine and ecstasy and things like that for people that would otherwise not get a parking ticket.

The illicit drug trade is globalised and technologically sophisticated. Credit:AP

He said decriminalisation of use and possession, along with a major campaign to take away the appeal of drugs, could help address the popularity of both recreational substances and highly addictive and destructive substances such as methylamphetamine, known as ice in its crystal form.

Mr OConnor said harm minimisation policies, notably safe injecting rooms, had successfully curbed heroin use from its heights in the 1990s.

We have to consider the same policies to reduce the harm associated with ice, he said.

The long-serving investigator joins former AFP commissioner Mick Palmer and NSWs former top prosecutor, Nicholas Cowdery, in backing decriminalisation, regulation and a greater focus on health in drug policy.

Outgoing NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller has backed expansion of a police diversion scheme involving fines and mandatory education and health programs for drug users, but has pushed back against decriminalisation because of concerns about legitimising drugs.

Senior police officers wary of decriminalisation have told the Herald that drug impairment in users is a disaster, carrying real risks in the form of driving accidents and violence. They dont believe there would be a noticeable effect on serious crime if drug use was decriminalised and argue current law enforcement efforts are successful in keeping trafficking and consumption from spiralling completely out of control.

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Mr Fuller has sought to publicly highlight for recreational drug users how their consumption funds organised crime and gang violence, even if they dont realise it.

Data from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research show consistent growth in drug consumption and offending over recent years, as seizures by police in NSW and nationwide continue to break records.

A record 38.5 tonnes of illicit drugs were seized nationally in 2019-20, a 45 per cent increase on the previous year and a 314 per cent increase over the past decade.

The commissions chief executive Michael Phelan last month said law enforcement would continue to target the drug trade but warned organised crime would always find a way to supply the product and the ever-growing problem cannot be addressed by law enforcement alone.

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We need to employ a holistic approach that focuses on supply, demand and harm reduction, with law enforcement and health agencies working together, he said.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews recently promised improved national cooperation to tackle organised crime that is damaging to our community, our democracy and economy.

If the drug trade was eroded, organised crime networks might turn to old and new schemes to make money including standover tactics, cybercrime and gambling.

These activities, Mr OConnor suggested, would be more manageable for police and less profitable for the underworld.

They will go to other things, but other things are probably easier to police, he said.

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Organised crime is overpowering authorities in drug war, says veteran investigator - Sydney Morning Herald