Specialist ice investigators, more sniffer dogs and a full time Special Operations Group is part of a plan to tackle drug trafficking in Tasmania.
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A “war on ice” has been declared by the Liberal party, which announced on Monday it would invest in three additional drug-detector dogs, taking the state’s total to seven.
The dogs support the work of drug squads, which would receive another boost under the planned crackdown – two specialist investigators in each region.
The investigators would undergo additional training, with a focus on targeting, disrupting and preventing ice trafficking.
Ice was second on the list of drug seizures in 2016-17, with police confiscating more than 1.5 kilograms of the drug.
Cannabis was the number one drug, with nearly 200 kilograms seized as well as more than 3000 plants.
But Police Minister Rene Hidding said it was ice that left communities “devastated”.
He said the additional resources would “allow frontline police offers to focus on other areas of crime”.
In January, Labor made its own promise about police dogs, allocating $1 million for a general duties dog in each district.
The promises have been welcomed by the Police Association of Tasmania.
Its president Pat Allen said the organisation had “long stated that more drug detection dogs are needed throughout the state”.
“The evidence is overwhelming in relation to their success rate,” Mr Allen said.
“Tasmania has an ice problem that needs to be tackled on many levels, including enforcement. It is an insidious drug that devastates individuals and communities.
“The extra resources, including the dogs and specialist investigators will assist greatly to focus efforts at the manufacture and supply level of the business.”
In a separate announcement on Monday, Mr Hidding said the Liberal party would make Tasmania Police’s tactical team a full-time operation.
The “soggies” are highly trained specialist officers with the ability to respond to terrorism incidents and emergency police operations, but are currently part-time in Tasmania.
Justice Minister Elise Archer made her own law and order announcement, which was a “crackdown” on “cowardly” one-punch attacks.
The proposed changes would mean “violent thugs” could no longer use “being drunk” as an excuse and would result in a review of current legislation to give courts the power to ban offenders from certain areas.
“It is important to ensure police and the courts have the powers to protect the community from cowardly acts by repeat drunken attackers,” Ms Archer said.