Dubbo’s new drug court and rehab centre: Silver bullet or soft option?
Dubbo’s newly announced drug court, and the rehabilitation centre that will go with it, is the culmination of many years’ work and collaboration between a diverse collective of individuals and organisations across the western region. The drug court will be the fourth such facility in NSW, and is aimed at addressing the burgeoning issue of drug use and crime across the region.
The NSW Government’s announcement late last month means the dream held by so many will now become a reality, but as the ink dries on the deal, stakeholders are warning that while it is not a soft option for drug crime offenders, neither is it a silver bullet.
In Dubbo Photo News’ two-part exploration of the initiative, JEN COWLEY speaks to some of the key stakeholders. Last week, Mayor Stephen Lawrence and renowned Aboriginal advocate “Riverbank” Frank Doolan talked about their involvement with and hopes for the program.
In this week’s edition, Dubbo MP Dugald Saunders and NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Geoff Mckechnie APM share their thoughts and insights. MORE than 30 years’ experience as a police officer, and being born and bred in the region, Assistant Commissioner Geoff Mckechnie has a greater understanding than most about the devastation of drugs on small regional communities. From a policing perspective, he’s hoping the drug court and rehab centre will be well resourced and ultimately serve as a circuit breaker to help address recidivism.
From a policing perspective and with the benefit of many years’ experience, what are your thoughts on the newly announced drug court and rehabilitation facility, and its potential efficacy in the fight against drugs in the western region?
I’m really positive about the initiative. What we often find in policing – and magistrates and judges will find the same thing – is a lack of options to get people the help they need to stop them re-offending.
We quite often see people serving custodial sentences because there aren’t many other options.
We have a massive recidivist offender problem in Western NSW where the same people are continually committing the same offences and because of their criminal histories and the circumstances in which they find themselves, they are repeatedly in and out of custody and the court system and our (police) processes. Anything that can break that cycle is a positive thing.
I haven’t been officially informed of how this drug court functions or how the previously announced rehabilitation centre for Dubbo might work, but I’ve read about both initiatives and I’m hopefully and confident in many ways that it will help to impact on crime in the region.
Is it unusual that you, as the region’s most senior police officer, wouldn’t be consulted in the development of this initiative?
We’ve been asked to contribute to different projects along the way but at this point I haven’t seen a final documentation as to how these initiatives are going to work – and I acknowledge that such documentation may not even yet exist. I just hope that the initiatives are properly resourced and are able to operate effectively.
There’s expertise needed around treatments like these, and a lot of human and physical resources are needed – if that’s done properly, this could be a really positive initiative.
What I’m hearing is that this is a good start but adequate resources need to be in place to ensure its effectiveness.
Yes, absolutely. People often talk to me about positive programs and initiatives that various agencies – including us (NSW Police) – put in place in western NSW and they’re good for a while, while ever they’re working and funded and while we have people leading them. When that stops, the programs just wither and die.
Many of our communities and people are tired of seeing that occur.
It’s frustrating for people to see things that are achieving good outcomes disappear.
I hope that this drug court initiative and the rehabilitation centre can have some long-term and lasting good effects for people in the region.
You’ve grown up in and been a police officer around the region for a long time – in terms of the human toll drugs take in small communities, it must be heartbreaking?
It certainly can be. As you rightly point out, I know lots of people around the region and I get around and talk to a lot of people, so I hear the stories about the battles people are fighting to get help for their loved ones and assistance to break the cycle. It’s particularly hard when services are thin on the ground.
We have to accept that living in remote and regional areas means we’re never going to have the significant level of services suburban areas get, but there has to be a point where community expectations are met and people are able to get the help they need.
How important is it that the judicial system and its representatives work with police in this quest?
We’re never going to work hand in glove because there has to be that separation between enforcement and the court system, and that’s fine.
I’m just pleased that the courts might be getting another option to use to try to help these people and break the cycle of reoffending that we as police see far too often.
Our police are doing a fantastic job, right across the state and across the western region – we’re very good at what we do, but we just don’t see people’s lives changing or their circumstances changing.
They offend, they come through our process, they go off and do their custodial sentence and they come back to exactly the same set of circumstances they left. So what do we expect is going to happen?
They’re just going to fall into the same routines and traps, and we’ll be seeing them back in our police stations again and we don’t want that.
So is the hope that this drug court and rehabilitation centre is part of helping to break the cycle, because what we’ve been doing thus far hasn’t worked?
It’s not working, no. I know (the Department of) Corrections is doing more than it’s ever done in this space in terms of trying to change people’s behaviours for the better, and I just hope this drug court and rehab centre is another step along the way.
Because just putting people in and out of custody without changing their circumstances doesn’t work.
HIS support for the establishment of drug rehabilitation services precedes by some way his foray into the political arena, so it is with great satisfaction that Dugald Saunders had the honour of announcing, in his capacity as the Member for Dubbo, the establishment of a drug court and rehabilitation facility for the city.
Could you just give our readers a recap on what was announced late last month?
The announcement was that there will be a fully funded drug court operating out of the new building at the existing Dubbo Courthouse – it’s set up with a number of different components that other courtrooms don’t have, including a table for people such as community workers, family members and the judge, to sit around and have a yarn about things.
The commitment (from the NSW Government) is $27.9 million over four years, and it should be fully operational by around this time next year. The job now is to set the drug court up, which will be in conjunction with the senior judge who runs the drug court in Sydney – Roger Dive, who has been a great advocate for expanding the drug court to be as much a part of regional areas as possible.
In layman’s terms, and for those who may not have had any experience with the court system, how does this facility differ from a normal court room?
In many ways, not a lot, apart from the fact that after the initial appearance before the judge, there are then regular visits.
The way it’s set up, if someone is found guilty of a drug offence, they do have to undergo detoxification – sometimes that happens in a corrections facility, sometimes a purpose-built detox facility, but they do have to detox and that’s usually a couple of weeks.
Then they go to the drug court and there’s three phases of that. Firstly, there’s the expectation of reducing drug use and coming off drugs. In that phase, they have to undergo testing and that’s usually two or three times a week and it’s done in the drug court.
In this new facility, there’s a sample room where people provide urine tests.
Phase two is about consolidation – remaining drug and crime free, but also developing life skills and working on employment. Again drug testing happens a couple of times.
Phase three is about reintegration – gaining some kind of employment, learning again how to be financially responsible. Drug testing is still conducted, and court appearances are a part of this, but it’s back to about monthly.
So the whole service relies on the person doing the right thing but also on that constant contact and testing, and support from those agencies and organisations that provide the wraparound services, which are important.
So it’s a holistic approach to supporting people to help ensure they don’t reoffend?
Yes. It’s very much about those wraparound services but it’s also not a softening of the approach to drug crime.
That’s one of the concerns some people seem to have – that this is somehow “going soft”. What’s your response to that concern?
I understand that that can be the perception, but there are some stringent requirements for the person going before the court – there is absolutely an agreement entered into, and if that’s broken by the person they end up in gaol. It’s as simple as that. If they fail a drug test, they end up in jail. If they do the wrong thing crime-wise, they end up in jail.
There’s a stick and there’s a carrot, and hopefully they’re used in proportion. The idea is that the drug court is creating a different pathway than we’re used to seeing, which is a custodial scenario.
Just putting people in and out of custody without changing their circumstances doesn’t work... – NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Geoff Mckechnie APM
There’s a huge element of personal responsibility and like anything, if the person isn’t wanting to be part of it they’ll fairly rapidly be kicked off the program and into a correctional facility... – Member for Dubbo Dugald Saunders
Let’s face it, that traditional pathway hasn’t exactly been a roaring success, has it?
No, it hasn’t. And we know there are all sorts of costs associated with just jailing people – if there’s a way we can maintain which is not “going soft” on crime or on drugs but that stops people reoffending then I think most of the community would be in favour of that.
The statistics show it’s roughly a 17 per cent reduction in re-offending (through the drug court) and that’s something we need to build on but it’s a start.
There are certain eligibilities as well – if you’re a severe criminal, you’re not eligible for drug court. If you’re charged with sexual offences, you’re not eligible for drug court, and so on.
The drug court is for those things that are regarded in some ways as slightly below (the severity) of other criminal activity – small level drug supply, break and enter, stealing cars.
What kind of evidence is there that the approach taken by the drug court works?
There are four fundamental aspects common to each of the drug courts – of which there are three so far, Sydney, Parramatta, Toronto and Dubbo will be the fourth.
Those aspects are evidence-based treatment of drug use, social support and development of living skills, regular reporting to the court regarding the participant’s progress and the regular testing for drug use.
Someone doesn’t just come into this system and get a free ride – there’s weekly, fortnightly and monthly interactions to make sure they’re on the right track and if they’re not, they will end up in a different scenario.
If they do the right thing, they have a much clearer pathway to get into meaningful employment and off drugs.
There’s a huge element of personal responsibility and like anything, if the person isn’t wanting to be part of it they’ll fairly rapidly be kicked off the program and into a correctional facility.
What’s the catchment for this court, and will it be enough to service that catchment?
The catchment is still being worked out. Normally, it’s based on a local government area, but in the case of the Dubbo drug court, it will likely depend on the expectation of where people might come from. It certainly won’t cover the entire western region, but it may cover Dubbo, Wellington, Narromine and maybe a bit further.
That’s one of the things that needs to be worked out.
With regard to servicing that catchment, we need to look at the number of people that can actually be treated.
The Dubbo drug-court is set to treat 80 people per year, and that’s higher than any of the other drug courts currently. That’s because (drug courts are) very heavy in terms of their use of manpower and resources – they’re not just tick and flick, there’s a lot of interaction with offenders. So while 80 doesn’t sound like a lot, it’s actually significant when you look at the level of management required for one participant week to week and month to month.
Is it enough? Well, is it ever enough? Can you cover every single person for every single thing? Probably not.
Remember, not everyone will fit these criteria. It would be nice to think that everyone who’s charged with a drug crime will go through the drug court and have a happy life. That’s not the reality.
This aims to help those who want to be helped. Those who want to remain as criminals will remain as criminals. That’s the reality.
My hope is that we can make a meaningful change particularly for young people who have grown up with intergenerational crime. If there’s an opportunity to take a different path with the right help, that’s worth it.
And that’s also what the rehab service, which is running parallel but separately, is about.
We can’t fix everyone, but it will be for people who want to change their lives.
There’s no getting away from the fact that there’s an over-representation of young Aboriginal people in the justice system, much of that linked to drug crime or use. How important is the ability to keep these offenders in community and on country in helping to change that statistic?
Certainly, when I speak with elders and others from a range of different age groups across our communities, they all say that’s a really important aspect of the drug court being established here.
That’s why it’s important that the drug court has come to Dubbo rather than trying to get people from here into a drug court in Sydney or Parramatta or Toronto. It makes a big difference.
On the other hand, some will say it creates the potential for things to go wrong and similarly with rehabilitation – sometimes being too close to where you are used to being and having the influence of those who aren’t the best role models in your life can make it difficult.
But I’m hoping that being able to stay in a meaningful and culturally appropriate way in their country is a help not a hindrance.
The support that can be provided by elders, and community and services here – I think it will be far better for that support to be happening locally.
How long have you been championing this cause?
For some people it might seem odd that I know so much about this – but that’s because I’ve been talking for the past six or seven years now, well prior to becoming the Member for Dubbo, about drug rehab, drug courts, Koori courts...that sort of thing. I’ve spoken to many different people over the years and since I came into this new role, it’s been one of my main aims for change in this region.
You can’t fix everything at once, and you also can’t help everyone you want to help, but this is one way forward. This isn’t just about a political or economic decision – this is about actually changing the course of people’s lives.