NSW Police Forced To Reopen Misconduct Investigation Into Oxford St Drug Raids

The NSW Police have been forced to properly investigate the alleged misconduct that occurred during a sniffer dog drug raid of several of Sydney’s LGBTQ+ venues during Pride month. The investigation will seek to determine whether the police overstepped on 13 June, as is alleged by numerous reports of aggressive behaviour which describe individuals being shoved and forced to strip in public.

According to the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC), this more extensive inquiry was ordered after the police, at the LECC’s request, conducted their own internal assessment and subsequently “declined to investigate the matter”.

Professional standards manager Inspector Michael Butcher alleged that body camera and CCTV footage was examined, alongside police records and witness testimony, and yet no evidence of any breach of policy was found. Accordingly, the assessment recommended no further investigation.

Lying Or Negligence? LGBTQ+ Community Questions NSW Police’s Findings

“Chris Minns’ goon squad investigated itself and found no wrongdoing, you say?” one sceptical community member wrote on Instagram. “These sham committees set up by NSW Police and Labor allow them to pretend to listen to the community while doing absolutely nothing.”

Indeed, the police’s vacant finding contradicts droves of complaints received by Member for Sydney Alex Greenwich and Lord Mayor Clover Moore following the incident, in which patrons of Universal, Palms, and Kinselas that night described police behaviour that was “aggressive, intimidating, disrespectful and unprofessional”. 

In fact, in Greenwich’s subsequent letter to the LECC, he described seeing CCTV footage from Universal first-hand, and being “appalled” by the police’s conduct.

“Dozens of officers stormed a packed crowd trying to watch a drag show,” Greenwich wrote, “including an officer who entered the performance space and refused to leave. There is footage of humiliating searches in front of crowds.”

Greenwich and Moore also alleged in their letter that some people were told by police to “fuck off” or “if you don’t like it, move to Melbourne”, and others reported police aggressively ordered them to move out of the way, saying “are you going to fucking move?”. 

In light of this discrepancy, the LECC has determined the police’s internal review to be insufficient, and has since evoked its statutory power to order further investigation. The Police will be required to share the results of the investigation with dual complainants Greenwich and Moore.