Police Raid Exit’s Melbourne Office
On Thursday 12 November, Exit International’s Mel- in 2002 has Exit been subject to this type of po-
bourne office was subject to a police raid concern- lice involvement. Then Exit offices in three states
ing the death of former Exit member Frank Ward of were subject to simultaneous raids and the entire
Brisbane. database seized. After Exit took legal action in
the Northern Territory Supreme Court,
Acting on instruction from Queensland Queensland Police were forced to return
police, a three-strong team of Victoria Po- the database intact and pay court costs in
lice detectives arrived at the Melbourne excess of $40,000 for their error.
office mid morning where volunteers
where busy with a mail-out. This time the Police took care not to ap-
propriate any information which was not
The warrant served on Exit National Coor- specified in the warrant. Exit members
dinator Lindy Boyd related ONLY to Frank therefore have nothing to worry about in
Ward and three other members of Exit, all terms of a breach of their privacy.
of whom have been notified.
Exit International takes the confidenti-
Seemingly aware that a warrant for ality of our member records very seri-
information on one particular mem- ously. The database is professionally
ber does NOT allow for the wholesale managed under the watchful eye of
seizure of Exit’s member database, a Canberra IT company, well known
the police were very particular about for its work with the upper echelons
what they took away with them. of government.
That said it is concerning that the In regard to the death of Mr Ward,
Police have felt it necessary to use strong-arm tac- who had not been a member of Exit for more than
tics to obtain information which would have been a year prior to his death, we have little knowledge
readily forthcoming had they only asked. of the circumstances of his passing. At all times
Exit is a lawful organisation and we are committed
Over the years, Exit has been approached regularly to ensuring programs such as the Nancy’s Friends
by various Police for assistance where suicides and Network act the same.
other possible suspicious deaths have been inves-
tigated. The Coroner’s office has also sought Exit After all, the Exit ethos is that preparing one’s
assistance and the organisation has usually been self for the future is what saves loved ones from le-
pleased to cooperate fully. gal risk.
This is why the Melbourne raid was so unexpect-
ed. Not since the days of Nancy Crick’s death back
Police Raid Sydney Exit
Member’s House for Nembutal
AFP Interview Canberra
& the Peaceful Pill Handbook
Chapter Cooridnator
In what is surely an uncanny coincidence, the house
In the same of a Sydney Exit member was subject to a raid by
week as the NSW Police on the same day as Queensland and
Q u e e n s - the Victoria Police visited Exit’s Melbourne office.
land and
Victoria Po- Armed with a warrant that stated they were search-
lice raided ing for Nembutal, travel documents and other infor-
Exit’s Mel- mation (eg. the banned Peaceful Pill Handbook), this
bourne office, the Canberra Chapter Coordinator, Exit member does not wish his name to be released).
Dr David Swanton, was interviewed by the Aus- He did however tell Exit that he had discussed his
tralian Federal Police in regard to the death of Exit plans at the Sydney Chapter
member, Graham Daly. meeting in Chatswood earlier
in the year. This leads Exit to
Investigating on behalf of the ACT Coroner, the po- consider the possibility that
lice had apparently acquired Graham’s computer the Chapter may have been
and discovered his membership of Exit. Similar to infiltrated by authorities. The
the case Frank Ward in Brisbane, Dr Swanton had consequences of this for Exit
little knowledge of the individual concerned and chapters is examined on
knew even less about how or when he had come to page 6 of this newsletter.
take his life. Mr Daly was 65 years old.
4.
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