TIDE TURNS IN FIGHT ON HEROIN

POLICE have nabbed 1100 more heroin dealers this year.

And police predict deaths from heroin overdoses will soar from 168 in
1996-97 to up to 230 this year, a parliamentary committee heard yesterday.

Police also said prostitutes could help determine police priorities when the
new "local priority policing" scheme is introduced next year.

Outside the hearing, police said they supported drug courts, which seek to
cure rather than punish drug addicts.

The all-party Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee yesterday hinted it was
considering recommending the introduction of drug courts.

The committee's recommendations could also include enshrining in law the
cautioning of first-time drug offenders, now done at police discretion.

The committee is inquiring into the implementation of the State Government's
$100 million "Turning the Tide" drug reform strategy.

Assistant Police Commissioner (strategic development) Bill Severino told the
committee the strategy's funds had helped police develop many acclaimed
innovations.

But it would be some time before it was possible to "demonstrate sufficient
effect for clear changes to be observed in the illicit drug area".

Heroin remained the hard drug of choice, he said, and was difficult to
control. There were just 384 amphetamines possession offences recorded, a
rise of 7 per cent, as opposed to the enormous increases in heroin offences,
Mr Severino said.

The heroin figures included the results of three major sting operations in
the past year, he said.

The hearing comes as police extend a pilot program involving cautions for
first-time, hard drug users and their referral to a treatment program. Most
offenders caught in the trial already had convictions and police want a
better sample.

Answering a question, about local priority policing, Mr Severino said police
were yet to determine who would comprise local safety committees under the
plan to improve community consultation.

"Somebody, with the intention of being disparaging, said, 'I suppose in some
areas you would have somebody from the Prostitutes Collective on', and I
said, 'Of course you would'," Mr Severino said. "Because that is a group
within an area which has something to say about policing in that area."

Checked-by: Don Beck