Outcome of a Police Media Campaign to Elicit Information from the Public about Trafficking in Victoria

Abstract

Operation Noah was a co-operative police-media effort to encourage the public to give the police anonymous information about drug traffickers, manufacturers and growers in Victoria. Although there were over 400 phone calls made to police only 22 individuals were charged with drug offences as a result. None of these were drug traffickers or manufacturers. There was a big discrepancy between the types of people alleged to be involved in drug distribution by respondents to the call for information and those reported by police during normal operational duties. Since the individuals nominated by the public conformed to the stereotype of a drug trafficker generally carried by the media in news and drama programmes and during Operation Noah, it is suggested that this contributed to the large amount of misinformation reported to police and the consequent failure of the Operation to achieve its nominated goal.