A covert NSW Police drugs operation targeting dial-a-dealers has come under fire from a veteran detective.
Two undercover officers were seen patrolling Bondi Beach on Friday evening about 7.30pm as part of a statewide taskforce targeting syndicates and individuals supplying cocaine.
A photo of the pair, shared on Facebook, showed the female officer dressed as an eastern suburbs mum, with a firearm visibly strapped to her hip.
The male officer, attempting to blend in, was dressed as an eshay, complete with a bumbag.
Former homicide detective Charlie Bezzina told Daily Mail Australia the officers’ clothing was ‘a bit nonsensical’ as drug dealers would instantly recognise them as police.
Mr Bezzina, who has experience in covert and undercover operations while heading a drug taskforce in Melbourne’s western suburbs, said officers must blend into their environment to be successful.
‘It’s a little bit odd that they’re walking around in plain clothes but still wearing their police issue firearms and other equipment,’ Mr Bezzina said.
‘As they say, coppers stand out a mile. They might as well be in uniform, especially if they’re two up, walking in pairs.’
The pair were spotted at Bondi Beach in plain clothes, with the male officer posing as an eshay, complete with a bumbag, while the female officer dressed as an eastern suburbs mum (pictured)
The officers were part of a state-wide ‘dial-a-dealer’ operation, with more than 100 people arrested including a young woman in Sydney’s CBD (pictured)
Mr Bezzina explained that street dealers would identify the officers and move to a back street before notifying their customers of the new meeting location.
‘These drug dealers in the street, that’s their domain, they’re very attuned to their environment,’ Mr Bezzina said.
‘The key is blending in with the environment, especially when you’re not known to the dealer’s face.’
However, he added undercover operations were a fair policing strategy that, if done legally, can be very successful.
‘The more covert manner that we can do it, and more out of the square police thinking, the better it is,’ Mr Bezzina said.
‘It certainly is fair to fool criminals into thinking the police are customers or regular people because whilst we play by the rules, crooks don’t.
‘So, any method that we can come up with that’s legal is on the table. I would look at any means to be able to catch these people and do it covertly in such a way that they wouldn’t identify me as a police officer.’
Mr Bezzina also questioned the goal of the police operations targeting dial-a-dealers, claiming they would result in only low-level arrests.
More than 100 people have since been arrested in statewide operations, which commenced on weekends from November 22.
However, Mr Bezzina labelled the arrest statistics ‘false stats’ as the operation targets street-level offenders rather than the ‘big fish’.
‘You’ve achieved nothing, because you’re getting crime stats to be able to say, we’ve just locked up 300 drug traffickers that are the low-level deals,’ Mr Bezzina said.
‘But what have you achieved in the long run? Are you getting the commercial distributors supplying the lower levels? Have you gone up the tree to cut off the supply? The answer is no.
‘Nothing’s achieved because they’re just plugging holes. They’re not getting to the source of the flood. They need to be putting resources into the big fish.’
Former homicide detective Charlie Bezzina (pictured) told Daily Mail Australia the officers’ clothing was ‘a bit nonsensical’ as drug dealers would instantly recognise them as police
Many Australians also criticised the police for the operation, and argued that the disguises were unconvincing and that it would be easy to identify them as police.
‘So many giveaways. He’s not from the streets or about that life,’ one person commented.
‘The watch, the socks pulled up, the laces tucked into his vans, the brand of bumbag he’s wearing and the fact he looks like he’s fresh out the academy,’ a second person wrote.
‘So, the glock on the hip of the chick and the glock that’s been shirt tucked on the bloke isn’t a dead giveaway?’ a third added.
A fourth joked the officers woke up and asked themselves, ‘what are the kids wearing these days?’.
Despite the backlash, the dial-a-dealer undercover operation will continue over the coming weeks and into 2025.
‘Police employ a wide range of strategies in fighting the distribution of illegal drugs,’ Assistant Commissioner McKenna said.
‘This operation highlights NSW Police’s commitment to combating illegal drug supply and I am backing that commitment by ongoing operations targeting suppliers operating in the Central Metropolitan Region.
‘Whether they are major drug suppliers, mid-level or street level, I will continue to put resources into disrupting their operations and prosecuting them for their true criminality.’
Among those arrested was a man taken into custody outside Parliament House on November 21.
On November 22, a glamorous woman was arrested on Hunter Street by an undercover police officer who had been posing as an eshay.
A 22-year-old man was found driving around Sydney CBD with 14 bags of cocaine and thousands in cash and a Cronulla teenager found with 18 bags of cocaine and charged with two counts of drug supply.
A Korean national was also arrested in Sydney’s CBD with 21 bags of cocaine and 60 MDMA caps.
In Sydney’s east, a 26-year-old man was arrested with cocaine and cash in a hidden compartment, while a 45-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man were found driving down Bondi Road with 24 bags of cocaine, more than $3000 in cash and a knife.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk