Ice: No warrants needed in 'drug detection areas'

Sir – Police now have the power to randomly stop and search vehicles in order to halt the spread of dangerous drugs in the Territory.
 
The Country Liberals Government yesterday in Parliament passed the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill 2015 unamended with the support of the House, in spite of resistance from Territory Labor who wanted to water down the legislation and make it harder to successfully prosecute offenders.
 
The Bill provides Northern Territory Police with the ability to declare specific roads as “declared drug detection areas”, and provides expanded powers to search for drugs in cars under new laws.
 
Across the nation we are watching the serious impacts of the drug ice (pictured above), this is one of the measures being introduced to tackle the complex issue we are facing in the Territory.
 
This is about enhancing the powers of police and providing them with an additional tool to assist them with their frontline duties.
 
This drug affects all levels of society and over 1.5kg of ice has already been seized this year.
 
With about 80 per cent of the methamphetamine seized in the Northern Territory being imported from other jurisdictions it was absolutely necessary that this legislation was passed.
 
We need to ensure our police officers are armed with the right resources and tools to deal with this issue.
 
Declared routes may be in place for up to 14 days, once a road is declared a drug transit route police will have greater powers to stop drivers they suspect may be trafficking dangerous drugs and search their cars without need for a warrant.
 
John Elferink
Attorney-General and Minister for Justice
Peter Chandler
Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services