VICTORIA'S top drug enforcer has fired a parting shot at judges and
magistrates for being too soft on criminals. Det. Chief Insp. John
McKoy, who retired yesterday as head of the state's drug squad, said
people were crying out for tougher action.

He accused the judicial system of ignoring community wishes by giving
drug dealers and manufacturers extremely lenient sentences.

"In the 11 years I have been at the drug squad the highest sentence
handed out to a drug dealer has been 11 years, and that was for a
commercial quantity," Mr McKoy said.

"The maximum penalty for a commercial quantity is 25 years'
imprisonment and the penalty for non-commercial quantities is 15
years, but nothing like the maximum is ever handed down.

"That is not what parliament wanted when they drew up these laws and
introduced tougher penalties, which were drafted after taking
community expectations into account.

"But what happens in the courts is that a precedent is set by a judge
who is lenient and most judges when deciding on penalty look for precedent.

"I would really ask the judiciary to take more account of community
expectations, certainly in relation to major drug offenders."

Mr McKoy said there was an urgent need for 100 uniformed police to
permanently patrol the city to get rid of the blatant street drug
dealing that was ruining Melbourne's image at home and abroad.

He also predicted dangerous new designer drugs would kill more people
than heroin.

Mr McKoy revealed organised crime gangs were increasingly turning to
designer drugs.

"These trendy drugs are our big problem of the future," he said.
"That's because, unfortunately, there is a huge ready market of young
people willing to take them.

"They could turn out to kill more people than heroin because there are
some extremely dangerous and volatile designer drugs on the market and
new ones are constantly being developed.

"Professional criminals have started moving away from selling powdered
amphetamines.

"They are pressing pills and selling them as ecstasy. "Now these pills
only contain about 5 per cent amphetamine, with the remainder being
made up of all sorts of dangerous chemicals, including LSD, heroin and
cocaine.

"We have seized the best part of 100,000 tablets in the past 18 months
and we know some labs were producing up to 20,000 tablets a week.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Herald Sun, Mr McKoy also
said:

CUSTOMS desperately needed at least another 4000 officers if the
Federal Government was serious about even slowing the flood of heroin
into Australia.

DRUG lords are laundering millions of dollars through casinos and
lawyers' trust accounts.

CRIMINALS are encouraged to try to bribe police because those caught
doing so are being given ridiculously lenient terms.

POLICE are so bogged down with paperwork that they do not have time to
patrol the streets.

HEROIN trials involving the drug being prescribed for long-term users
would be a positive step, but heroin injecting rooms are a mistake.

LAWYER Andrew Fraser should never have been allowed to continue
representing alleged drug dealers when he himself has been charged
with using, possessing and trafficking cocaine and possessing ecstasy.

Mr McKoy said police were frustrated that many magistrates and judges
were not doing enough to help win the drug war.

He said the Kennett government had introduced tough penalties for drug
dealers and manufacturers, but judges were not following the wishes of
parliament.

"The justice system is too distanced from what the community expects
from our courts," he said.

Mr McKoy said magistrates could play a much stronger role in cleaning
up trouble spots.

He said a Frankston magistrate had once taken it on himself to fix up
the suburb when street crime got out of control a few years ago.

"The magistrate started handing out seven days' jail for using bad
language, a month for urinating in the street, that sort of thing," Mr
McKoy said.

"It took him less than a month to clean up Frankston.

"No one dared play up down there because they knew if they went before
this magistrate then there was a fair chance they were going to prison."

Mr McKoy said the lenient sentences handed out now by some magistrates
were astounding. He was also amazed at how easy it was for major
offenders to get bail.

He had been particularly disappointed by the performance of
magistrates during police blitzes on street drug offences.

"I ran an operation at Springvale and Dandenong during which the
courts were a revolving door," Mr McKoy said.

"Surely severe fines or short terms of imprisonment for minor
offences, as they used to do, is an option for magistrates to consider."