It does not correlate with reduced drug crime, as police bosses would have you believe. The minimal police reporting of drug crime to be found in annual reports is a sleight-of-hand presentation where reduced offence numbers are promoted as a drop in drug crime, when the actual meaning is a drop in police productivity. On its website, the Australian Federal Police tell us that illicit drug crime costs Australia $16.5 billion a year. So, ultimately, what is more important: keeping quiet about the failure to address drug crime and maintaining a perception that all is well? But until police management comes clean and honestly exposes itself to proper scrutiny, the illicit drug problems are destined to get worse.