POLICE TO GIVE DRUG USERS A MOVE ALONG

A new law allowing police to move drug users off the streets and put them
"out of sight" will be put to work in Cabramatta today, the area's police
chief says.

As the failure of police to clean up Cabramatta's heroin problem continues,
the Premier said yesterday he would outline a new strategy for the area
next month.

Assistant Commissioner Clive Small said the changes to the Intoxicated
Persons Act would allow the police to remove from the streets people
affected byillicit drugs and drunks.

"What that will allow us to do is ... essentially to take them off the
street and take them out of sight and to put them into at least a temporary
form of treatment," Mr Small told 2GB.

The Upper House MP Mr Peter Breen, of the Reform the Legal System party,
criticised the changes, saying they were a "throwback to the old loitering
laws".

Mr Small agreed with the criminologist Dr Don Weatherburn that two years of
internal revolt at the Cabramatta local area command had meant "the police
effectively took their eye off the ball for a time".

This contrasts with statements a year ago by the Police Commissioner, Mr
Ryan, that Cabramatta's police station had been downgraded because "we've
reclaimed the streets" and the suburb was "no longer regarded as dangerous".

Yesterday Mr Ryan said he wanted a "total State agency response" to the
serious drug and violence problems of Cabramatta. Mr Carr has told him to
review policing strategies in Australia's heroin capital.

Mr Small wants the Cabramatta police station upgraded so it can attract
more police and extra funding.

The Opposition spokesman on police, Mr Andrew Tink, said"violent crimes,
especially shooting crimes, have skyrocketed" since the station was
downgraded in September 1999.

Mr Carr said: "I will have for you a very strong statement on Cabramatta
before too long. A major statement by the Government on Cabramatta."

Mr Small, meanwhile, has ordered police to investigate a claim by Mr Ross
Treyvaud, a high-profile anti-drugs campaigner, that a police officer had
threatened his life.

Mr Treyvaud, a local publican and the president of the Cabramatta Chamber
of Commerce, said an officer told him several years ago to "shut up, to
back away" or police "would organise for gangs to kill me".

Mr Treyvaud was attacked under parliamentary privilege last week by two
Labor MPs, Ms Reba Meagher (Cabramatta) and Mr Kevin Moss (Canterbury).

Ms Meagher said police should be on the beat, not sitting in a courtroom
"arguing the pros and cons of why fewer people are in the chamber
president's pub putting their weekly wage through his poker machines".

This was a reference to planned legal action by local shopkeepers who claim
their trade has suffered due to a lack of government action and resources.
The chamber is not funding the legal action.

Mr Moss said the "ego-driven" Mr Treyvaud was a "pusher of drugs" because
his hotel sold cigarettes and alcohol.