New police blitz to increase intimidation
By Nicole Hilder
WOLLONGONG — "Operation Midia" is a new law and order blitz by the Shoalhaven Local Area Command, which is using with gusto new powers given to police by the NSW Labor government.
Cops are setting up breath-testing units outside the homes of "suspected drug dealers", and stopping and searching them in the street for drugs if they have "information" to back up their suspicions.
"Slowly but surely we can see 'innocent until proven guilty' being reversed until we get to the stage where you have to prove that you are not committing a crime, even in front of your own house", Wollongong Resistance organiser Andy Gianniotis told Green Left Weekly.
"Cops are doorknocking entire streets asking for titbits of information and pulling over suspected drug dealers and charging them with traffic offences.
"How intimidation will solve the social problem resulting from the criminalisation of the health problems caused by drugs is beyond me", Gianniotis said. "It's just an excuse to increase police powers at a time when high youth unemployment is being made worse by the policies of state and federal governments."
Operation Midia has cost the Shoalhaven police command $55,000 in additional working hours. Local area commands at Wollongong and Lake Illawarra are interested in developing their own versions.
Resistance activist Simon Frew recounted his first-hand experience of Operation Midia: "I was walking home from a Resistance meeting recently when I was grabbed by two police. They said I fitted the description of someone they were after. They demanded that I submit to a body search for illegal drugs. They found nothing. They really stopped me simply because I have my hair in dreads."
In response to the blitz, Resistance and the Democratic Socialist Party are sponsoring a Green Left Weekly forum titled, "The rise of law and order — who gains?" on August 10. For more information phone Andrew on (02) 4226 2010 or e-mail <wollongong@greenleft.org.au>.