Upper House Greens MP David Shoebridge has been campaigning against police use of sniffer dogs for a good long while now, and today he and Greens member for Newtown Jenny Leong have put forward a bill to stop police use of sniffer dogs once and for all.
According to Shoebridge, sniffer dogs are incorrect 64-72% of the time. When the dogs are correct, drugs are usually only found in small amounts: only 2% of searches end in a supply conviction. He said in a statement, “The drug dog regime does not target high-level drug dealers or suppliers. It targets young people, the poor and Aboriginal communities.”
These stats come from a survey done by Unharm last year, and the evidence is rather damning. Dr Will Tregoning of Unharm said,
“Drug detection dogs have become almost a standard feature at music festivals in NSW. Often you hear police claiming that they are effective. They never provide any evidence of that. The truth is that the evidence just isn’t there. They catch hardly any dealers, very few people are deterred, and the risks of harm are increased.”
Police still maintain that one of the main successes of sniffer dogs is deterrence. Trengoning says that this is also incorrect, saying that dogs don’t deter users, but instead cause the ‘panic overdose’ – which is when someone spots a dog, and so takes all the drugs they have on them to avoid arrest.
The Greens assert police using drug dogs do more harm to communities than good. “We want a harm minimisation approach to drugs and we don’t want intimidation and harassment from police and sniffer dogs in our community,” said Leong. Shoebridge agrees, saying to the Daily Telegraph earlier this month, that “police with drug dogs are a blight on the music and nightclub scene, subjecting people to humiliating searches and ruining what should be a positive night out.”
Along with the announcement of the bill, the press conference featured a short statement from Dan McNamee from Art vs. Science, and Paul Mac. Paul Mac also played a short DJ set including his new anti-drug dog song ‘Man’s Best Friend’, and said,
“I think the use of sniffer dogs is an invasion of personal liberties. Nobody should be expected to undergo a strip search in order to enter a dance party or a music festival.”
And in case you like partying more than press conferences (fair enough), the NSW Greens are also chucking a party in Marrickville on Saturday night, in ‘protest of the drug dog regime’. The Sniff Off Party will be held at The Red Rattler at 7pm, and will have Paul Mac headlining, alongside Platform 19, Hubble, and Wyldestyle.
Tickets are available via the NSW Greens website, here: nsw.greens.org.au/event/nsw/sniff-party
Image: Supplied
