BASICS OF GETTING BUSTED
Whether you’re a drug user or not, getting busted by the police is a nightmare most of us would like to avoid. It’s a hassle, it’s costly and it can leave people feeling powerless and afraid — as it’s designed to. But with “law and order” so high on the political agenda these days, avoiding arrest can be difficult.
“When I was arrested, the cops made me feel like shit,” said Michelle of her recent experience in police custody. “I guess I was stupid, having a joint in a car with some friends. We were parked on the side of the road in an exclusive North Shore suburb. It was broad daylight but there was nobody around so we lit up. We’d almost finished smoking when a police car drove slowly past our car. I just freaked, put out the joint and opened the windows to try and air the car out. I had a bag of dope on me so I was hoping the cops would keep going but they turned their car around and parked right in front of us.
“One of the cops got out and walked over to us. I knew he’d probably be able to smell the dope but what could I do. I felt like I was trapped with nowhere to go. The cop told me to get out of the car. His partner joined him and even though they were both being really friendly, I knew I was gone. They searched the car, found my stash and that was it,” she adds.
Like many drug users, Michelle has discovered that zero tolerance policing policies are becoming the norm, particularly when it comes to the war against drug(-user)s. What that means is if people are caught with drugs, they’ll be arrested, charged and prosecuted with few, if any, extenuating circumstances taken into account.
In NSW, Australia, according to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics, these new policies have seen drug arrests increase by 15% in the last three years, with around 18,600 people arrested in NSW on drug charges in 1998. While some drug arrests have decreased, namely the dealing, trafficking and cultivation of cannabis, most others have increased with charges for possession and use of cocaine increasing by a staggering 133% since 1996. Arrests for the possession and use of narcotics has increased by 93% during the same period while arrests for the possession and use of cannabis has only gone up by 14.5%.
With drug arrests so high, I thought it might be interesting to find out how police get their information on drug crimes. Unfortunately, the Police Media Liaison Unit were unable to provide me with these kinds of statistics.
“A lot of our information comes from the NOAH phone-ins,” was
all the officer could tell me.
So I decided to look for some anecdotal evidence and asking people who had
been arrested on drug charges to tell us how they got caught.
From what they said, it’s clear that police have derived a lot of
their information from “anonymous informants”. Sometimes the
information panned out and sometimes it didn’t — like the case
of two politicians who were searched for drugs at an Australian airport.
The information, which proved to be wrong, came from an anonymous informer,
leading many people to criticise a system where the word of an informer
can bring anyone unwelcome police attention.
While some tip-offs lead nowhere, the majority of drug arrests appear to
come from tip-offs, though not always from anonymous informers. Sometimes
tip-offs come from people who have also been arrested on drug charges and
are trying to get a better deal for themselves by giving up their dealers.
“I’m sure it was one of my customers,” said Erik, recently parolled after serving time on drug charges. “The cops knew what they wanted when they came to my door. They had a warrant so there wasn’t much I could do.”
“When we got done, it was like the cops were waiting for us to turn
up,” says RJ. “It was a total set-up. I found out later who
dobbed us in, a pathetic low-life junkie I shouldn’t have dealt with.”
The next biggest cause for drug arrests seems to be dumb luck or bad luck.
In the course of their regular duties, the police often have reason to knock
on peoples’ doors and it’s amazing how many times that can lead
to other charges.
“The cops came to my door one Saturday night. There was a party on
next door and someone had complained about the noise. It was a back yard
party so the cops couldn’t tell whose yard it was in, so they knocked
on my door first,” says Janet. “I looked through my peephole,
saw who it was and quickly grabbed the drugs off my coffee table and stashed
them before answering the door.
“The cops started to hassle me immediately about why I didn’t
let them straight in and I didn’t know what to say. When they established
the noise was coming from next door and I thought they’d leave but
one of them saw the bong on the table. In my rush, I’d forgotten to
hide it and that led to my being arrested.”
Lastly, the other big way to get busted is self confession.
“I was beaten up by this guy in a local pub one night,” says Pete. “When I was giving my statement, I mentioned that I’d had a joint before going out that night. It was a stupid thing to say but I thought it would show that I wasn’t in the mood to be aggressive that night and that I was the victim. Anyway, after my interview, they charged me with cannabis use instead, even though I didn’t have anything on me. It was based entirely on what I’d said in the interview.”
As long as there are drug laws on the books, the police will have to enforce them and people will keep getting busted. There’s not much you can do about bad luck but you can keep a low profile and not volunteer incriminating information because when it comes to drug arrests, the best advice may be to deny everything.
This article is reprinted with permission from Users News, published in NSW, Australia, by NUAA. This article is reproduced with permission of NUAA. Previous editions of the magazine are available on line at www.nuaa.org.au
