DRUGS NO-GO ZONE

HEROIN addicts and dealers will be banned from nine Melbourne suburbs
in a radical crackdown on the drug trade.

They will risk jail if they break court orders banning them from
drug-plagued Footscray and surrounding suburbs.

Police plan to round up dealers and addicts who don't live in the
area and ask magistrates to ban them from the entire 31 sq km of the
City of Maribyrnong.

It covers Footscray, Braybrook, Yarraville, Maidstone, Tottenham,
Seddon, Kingsville, West Footscray and Maribyrnong.

The scheme, which starts on Saturday, centres on Footscray where
residents and businesses have been blighted by the heroin trade and
related assaults, robberies and burglaries for 20 years.

If Project Reduction is a success it could be adopted in other
problem areas such as Melbourne City, Richmond and Springvale.

The Sentencing Act gives magistrates the power to place offenders on
good behaviour bonds with special conditions.

Those sent before courts under Projection Reduction who want to
continue to enter the municipality would have to satisfy a strict set
of requirements.

They would need to show they had immediate family in the area,
required medical or legal advice, or needed to be there for any
purpose or business that could not be conducted elsewhere.

In a six-month period last year, 60 per cent of the 388 offenders
processed at Footscray police station were not from the City of
Maribyrnong. Of those, 72 per cent had problems with drugs. The bans
will apply to people convicted of drug dealing and possession. But
offenders including burglars, shoplifters and people with assault
convictions would also be eligible for exclusion orders if they were
found to be drug addicted.

Footscray locals are fed-up with dealers and addicts using their streets.

Constant police attention and a succession of blitzes over many years
have failed to break the drug trade.

Sen-Det Brendan O'Mahoney of Footscray CIU, who developed the scheme,
said it was aimed at breaking the networks that the heroin industry thrives on.

"If you take away the demand, hopefully that will lead to less
dealers being in the area," he said.

He said Footscray was treated as a one-stop-shop where addicts steal
and sell their stolen goods then meet dealers and shoot up again.

Sen-Det O'Mahoney said he could not say if the drug trade would move
to other suburbs because no such scheme had operated before.

He said a dedicated researcher would be assigned to monitor whether
crime dropped in Maribyrnong during the six-month trial and whether
the exclusion orders had any effect in other areas.

Regardless, he said Footscray ratepayers and business operators
deserved a break from the drug trade.

"It's pretty clear most of our offences occur to support drug
habits," Sen-Det O'Mahoney said.

He said he hoped the plan would deprive dealers of a market and keep
visiting addicts away from the culture generated by being in the
company of other users.

Sen-Sgt Dave Byrt said Footscray was used by heroin addicts because
it was close to the city and easy to get to by public transport. The
bans will apply to people convicted of drug dealing and possession.
But offenders including burglars, shoplifters and people with assault
convictions would also be eligible for exclusion orders if they were
found to be drug addicted.