NSW ramps up drug detection targets as it flogs the dead horse of prohibition

Good policing or self-fulfilling prophesy?

NSW Police are being given detection targets that demand an increase in drug detections by a massive 86%

Certain suburbs like Kings Cross, Broken Hill, Mt Druitt and South Sydney have far higher targets than the average while North Shore suburbs have among the lowest. Cynics may conclude that the well-off areas where cocaine is the drug of choice are getting a 'Get out of Jail Free' card.

And, despite clear international evidence that decriminalisation and case management is a cheaper and more effective way to address illicit drugs, those targets are the highest of all categories.

Critics say this quota approach will result in bias errors like racial profiling and do nothing to increase community safety – at a time where the incarceration rate of non-white people is stoking widespread protest.

From the SMH article linked above –

Professor Murray Lee, director of the Sydney Institute of Criminology at the University of Sydney, said focusing on... drug supply, could push the offence rates higher over time and risk it becoming a "self-fulfilling prophecy".

"You may well see police going for the low-hanging fruit, whether that's over-policing in particular areas to meet those targets, going after the usual suspects," Professor Lee said.

The target for robbery in Ku-ring-gai has fallen 40 per cent since 2016 to 20 this year, while actual incidents have been increasing in that area, tripling from 10 in 2016 to 30 last year.