“Considerable Exaggerations”: NSW Police Deny Targeting LGBTQ+ Venues In Second Oxford St Drug Raid”

The NSW Police have defended their September 12 Oxford Street drug raid, which saw approximately 15 officers entering several LGBTQ+ venues and conducting drug searches.  

Speaking to 702 ABC Sydney Mornings, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Peter McKenna defended the operation, rejecting the claims of club patrons who described it as targeted and intimidating.

“I think there has been considerable exaggerations and I would say histrionics around this particular matter,” McKenna said. 

According to the officer, the operation visited a total of 14 venues that night, some of which “may consider themselves a place that LGBTQIA+ communities frequent”.

“People saying that we were raiding or targeting any community —  or picking on anyone in particular — that’s not the case,” said McKenna. “That’s complete misinformation.”

McKenna went on to state he reviewed police body-worn camera footage from the September 12 raid and could attest that officers were “polite” and “unobtrusive”. This stands in stark contrast to NSW’s last raid on the area just three months prior, which witnesses described as unprofessional and aggressive and is currently the subject of an open LECC misconduct investigation.  

NSW Police Drug Raids Are Harmful & Ineffective

While McKenna pushed back on the LGBTQ+ community’s claims that this latest raid sought to target queer venues, this is far from the practice’s only criticism.

Speaking on behalf of Redfern Legal Centre, Rian Terrell said the mere deployment of drug dogs, especially among patrons suspected of drug use, is a dangerous practice. 

“Drug detection dogs are intimidating and a safety risk,” said Terrell, “encouraging patrons to engage in risky behaviour such as ‘preloading’ or panic consumption. The significant harm caused by deploying drug dogs and searching members of the LGBTQI+ community is not justified.” 

Others, including Night Time Industries Association vice-chair James Thorpe, pointed rather to the inefficacy of the practice, if NSW Police are truly seeking to “proactively disrupt and address drug supply” as they have claimed.

“Searching large numbers of patrons in gay venues and producing fines for low-level possession is not the same thing as dismantling the supply chain,” Thorpe said. 

Sydney’s LGBTQ+ Community Want Answers

Ultimately, LGBTQ+ community members and harm reduction experts alike have found themselves asking NSW Police the same questions: 

If this is about disrupting illicit drug supply, why is your “intelligence” directing you to sniff out recreational users and not suppliers?

If this is about violence, why are you targeting illicit drug use among queers when alcohol is the number one drug associated with aggression and assault, and heterosexual men are the far more likely offenders?

If this is about protecting the community, why are you repeatedly raiding the safe-havens of LGBTQ+ people, people NSW Police have historically brutalised, when your only obligation to them should be a sincere commitment to reparation?

In lieu of an answer to these questions, several LGBTQ+ organisations have scheduled an official protest, to be held at 12pm Sunday 20 September at Taylor Square, Darlinghurst. 

The protest, organised by Drag For Change, Kiama Blowhole, Pride in Protest, Sydney Socialist Alliance, Mark Gillespie, and City of Sydney for Palestine, is demanding that NSW Police stay out of LGBTQ+ bars and community spaces.