Fairfield Police call on public to help with ‘Dob in a Dealer’ campaign

The heads of Fairfield Police and Crime Stoppers NSW held an event yesterday to encourage community members to ‘Dob in a Dealer’.

From left: Peter Price, the chief executive of Crime Stoppers NSW, and Peter Lennon, Superintendent at Fairfield Police Area Command. Picture: Tony Ibrahim

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‘Dob in a Dealer’ labels adorned the side of the van parked adjacent to the steps at Thomas Ware Plaza on Thursday.

The head of Fairfield Police Area Command and the Chief Executive of Crime Stoppers NSW were there.

About a hundred locals gathered around — many waiting 15 minutes — to hear an address they knew little about.

At 10.15am, Superintendent Peter Lennon kicked off the proceedings.

He started with a joke: “My Arabic hasn’t improved much,” he said before explaining a translator had been brought to help share his message with a community that has strong middle-Eastern representation.

“We invited you all here today because we wanted to talk about ‘Dob in a Dealer’.

“This is one of the particular things we need to look at because (drugs are) affecting our children, our teenagers and our adults.”

The Federal Government initiative intends to throttle the supply of illegal drugs by prosecuting the people peddling them.

Previously, it ran for 13 months until March 2017.

“The last time we did this two years ago we had a 134 per cent increase in drug related crime reports (across the state),” Crime Stoppers NSW chief executive Peter Price told the Fairfield Advance.

“With that information, this can lead to investigations and arrests.”

The passer-bys drawn to the event wouldn’t necessarily be the users buying drugs from dealers.

They were Thursday morning shoppers; likely a mother, father, uncle or aunty to someone who may use instead.

But Superintendent Lennon and Mr Price asked them to act as the community’s eyes and ears.

The crowd gathers around the Dob in a Dealer event at Fairfield. Pic: Tony Ibrahim

“All I’m asking you is if you hear any information or you see anything, please contact the police, which you can do all the time,” Superintendent Lennon said.

“And there’s crime stoppers as well, which is confidential, on 1800 333 000.”

Over the past five years, most drug related offences in Fairfield City have held steady, data from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research reveals.

But there are two exceptions; the possession and use of amphetamines (up 7.3 per cent) and narcotics (up 11.8 per cent).