Police fail sniff test

Activists and MP say civil liberties abused at Sydney concert

ACTIVISTS say the security operation at a Sydney music festival was “a serious abuse of police powers” after ticket holders were denied entry and banned from the Olympic Park site for six months based on the reactions from drug-detection dogs.

The Above & Beyond festival went ahead on Saturday evening after it was plunged into controversy last week by a NSW Police threat to ban revellers if a dog reacted positively, even if no drugs were found.

NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge said the Sniff Off campaign team had spoken to numerous people who were refused entry after being sniffed and searched, even though no drugs were found on them.

“(They) were issued with banning notices preventing them from returning to the entire Olympic Park site for six months,” he said in a statement yesterday. “This is a serious abuse of police powers.”

Two detection dogs were used on crowds on Saturday night in a search area beyond an initial entry point and out of the reach of media cameras.

The Greens claim sniffer dogs can get it wrong in up to 75 per cent of cases and argue police should adopt harmminimisation tactics instead. Mr Shoebridge said NSW Police ignored public opinion and ran right over well-established civil liberties with “heavy handed” punishment of concertgoers who were the victims of drug dog false-positives.

“As well as the more than $100 for the ticket, many attendees have also paid for flights and accommodation, meaning the denial of entry has put them substantially out of pocket,” he said.

The move was also criticised by civil libertarians and a former Australian Border Force commissioner as an overreach.

Activist Tom Raue said officers ordered his volunteers to stop handing out pamphlets about the program, citing a 2012 regulation governing the Olympic Park precinct.