SMALL SEEKS POWER TO CLEAN UP STREETS

Assistant Commissioner Clive Small yesterday called for greater police
powers to clear drug users from the streets of Cabramatta.

Mr Small, commander of the Greater Hume region, which covers Cabramatta,
told the parliamentary inquiry he was discussing with the Police Minister,
Mr Whelan, options to remove drug users because there was no such provision
under current laws.

"It's a very difficult situation and we need some new initiatives to deal
with what I call the residue of the drug problem," he said.

Mr Small, who introduced a get-tough approach to drugs shortly after he
took command on January 1, conceded there had been serious internal
problems at the Cabramatta police command that had affected officers and
the community.

His new regional strategy includes targeting, charging and possibly jailing
users who openly inject or buy drugs. Strikeforce Scottsville recently
identified 40 home units currently used for drug-dealing, and evicted 24
dealers from 20 units.

"The difficulty we're reaching now ... is that drug users - not suppliers -
are actually taking more time to buy drugs and, therefore, they're spending
more time on the streets and in one sense they're becoming more obvious,"
he said.

"Part of the discussion I'm having with the minister and others are options
for removing and dealing with this problem of drug users [for whom], at the
moment, there is no law against.

"It is not an offence to stand somewhere [with the intention of buying
drugs] and that's the difficulty we're facing. There have been a number of
options put."

Mr Whelan said a range of initiatives was being considered by the Police
Service and other government departments but discussions were at a "very
preliminary stage".

Mr Small said major factors affecting his region were the "large number of
very young police" who required training, and "internal fighting" within
the Cabramatta command in the past two years including no-confidence
motions against the former local area commander, Superintendent Peter Horton.

"It is clear from my knowledge ... that there were in times gone past,
there were serious problems at Cabramatta," Mr Small said.