RISE IN HEROIN CRIMES INEVITABLE, SAYS RYAN

Crime would continue to soar in Australia until there were new new
approaches to attack the number of heroin users, according to the NSW
Police Commissioner, Mr Peter Ryan.

But governments would not introduce policies that might work, such as
effective treatment of heroin addicts, for fear of being seen as soft, he
said.

In an interview with the Herald yesterday, Mr Ryan said there was a need
for governments to start investing in meaningful and effective treatment
programs for heroin addicts to reduce heroin-related crime.

"More police on the beat won't solve the drug dependency problem," he said.
"All it will do is move people around. It is like trying to deprive people
of water they will simply find another source."

The Australian Bureau of Statistics released figures last week which showed
massive increases in heroin-related crimes such as armed robberies, break
and enters and theft. This was followed by a study which showed users stole
up to $1.6 billion dollars to fund their habits.

"There is a fear by community leaders to say what they think in terms of
the drug problem because if you are trying to do something about the cause,
trying to treat the drug users and break the crime cycle then you are
accused of being soft. It is not soft - it is effective policing and an
attack on the root cause, which is drugs.

"We have tried everything else. We have tried massive operations to crack
down on them [drug dealers] and we are hitting the major importers as hard
as we can but we know we are only getting a small amount of the drugs that
are coming through."

Mr Ryan said that 60 to 70 per cent of crime in NSW was committed by people
robbing or stealing to buy drugs or by people on drugs at the time.

"We have medical needs that need to be addressed and that is expensive for
society but what is more expensive is a $1.6 billion habit of house
breaking and thieving," he said.

He "liked the look" of the Victorian model of warnings for minor drug
offenders and he would watch with interest trials overseas of drug courts
where drug offenders were required to go into treatment or face jail.

Improvements still needed to be made by law enforcement bodies, especially
to stopping imports of drugs.

But while law enforcement could continue the fight, there needed to be an
attack fromthe other end.

"I remember listening to a drug user one day who said: "Look we are not
unintelligent, stupid, illiterate people, but we are treated like that. I
am an articulate and educated person who just wants to get off the damn
drug and I need some help. I am stealing and thieving because I have a
$1,000 a day habit.' Now we have got to find a way of getting that person
off drugs and into a program that is going to rehabilitate them."

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)