Above amp; Beyond festival: activists accuse police of 'serious abuse' of powers
Activists have labelled the security operation at a Sydney music festival as “a serious abuse of police powers” after ticket holders were denied entry based on reactions from drug detection dogs.
The Above amp; Beyond festival went ahead on Saturday evening after it was plunged into controversy this week by a New South Wales police threat to ban revellers if a dog reacted positively, even if no drugs were found.
The move was criticised by the NSW Greens, civil libertarians and even a former Australian Border Force commissioner as an overreach.
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 “Sniff Off” campaign, backed by the Greens, said it had been contacted by ticket holders who were denied entry despite no drugs being found on them.
“This is a serious abuse of police powers and we will see the NSW police force in court next week,” the group posted on Facebook.
Activist Tom Raue described the police behaviour as “disappointing” after officers ordered his volunteers to stop handing out pamphlets about the drug dog program, citing a 2012 regulation governing the entire Sydney Olympic Park precinct.
An attempt by Raue and other plaintiffs to secure an injunction that would have prevented the police plan going ahead fell flat on Friday after a judge ruled they had no cause to complain about alleged injustices in advance.
On Sunday the Greens’ justice spokesman, David Shoebridge, said: “The Greens’ Sniff Off team spoke to a number of attendees who were refused entry after being searched even though no drugs were found on them.
“Those denied entry were issued with banning notices preventing them from returning to the entire Olympic Park site for six months ... Members of the public shouldn’t have to pay for the inaccuracy of the drug dog program.
“We have people willing to join in legal action to defend their rights, and video footage of many encounters and this will be closely reviewed by the lawyers this week.”
The Greens claim sniffer dogs can get it wrong in up to 75% of cases and argue police should adopt harmminimisation tactics instead.
The plan had also attracted criticism from the former commissioner of the Australian Border Force, Roman Quaedvlieg, who spent more than three decades in drug enforcement. Quaedvlieg dubbed the police move “extraordinary”.
“Festival drugs are risky granted but a person can have minute drug traces from handling cash, infused into garment fabric etc,” he posted on Twitter earlier this week. “Using an ‘indication’, as they call it, to ban entry into a social event is too much.”