Trends and offending circumstances in the police use of drug detection dogs in New South Wales 2008–2018

New South Wales (NSW) was the first Australian state to introduce drug detection dogs as a street-level policing strategy. In 2006, the NSW Ombudsman released damning evidence that challenged the dogs’ effectiveness. Over a decade later, drug detection dogs remain a core policing policy in NSW, and the powers surrounding their use have expanded. This study provides the first comprehensive analysis of drug dog deployment since the NSW Ombudsman Review. Specifically, it analyses unit-record data on all recorded criminal incidents and persons of interest (POIs) involving drug detection dogs that led to a formal police response in NSW from June 2008 to June 2018. The analysis shows that the main target group has remained young males detected for use/possession offences, albeit that the dogs have detected a small but potentially significant population of drug suppliers, and that the circumstances for their detection differ markedly to that for consumers. The results further show that there has been a small reduction in the number of overall detections recorded by police. However, this trend has not been driven by a decrease in use/possession offences detected, and thus large numbers of use/possession offenders, as opposed to drug suppliers, continue to be policed via this policy each year. This paper discusses the implications of these findings for policy and practice

Collaboration by the Public Sector: Findings by Watchdogs in Australia and New Zealand

Drawing on an analysis of 112 watchdog reports that addressed collaboration, this paper concludes that governance issues make up a large proportion of all issues identified. Less commonly found were specific references to capacity and information management as important elements for effective collaboration. The evidence from watchdog reports confirms that collaboration remains very problematic for the public sector. Moreover, it is not evident that the wider public sector is drawing on this evidence extensively to learn and improve