NSW Police Raided Oxford Street Again. Half The Room Left.

Fifteen officers, drug dogs, and a venue that went from 200 patrons to half-empty in minutes—one day after the government met to discuss the last time this happened.

Told by Jake Donovan · 20 September 2026

Fifteen police officers standing outside Universal on a Saturday night will do one thing very efficiently: empty the room.

On Saturday 12 September, NSW Police raided multiple LGBTQ+ venues on Oxford Street with drug-detection dogs—the second operation of its kind in three months. Between 12 and 20 officers hit Universal, Palms, Arq, Kinselas, The Dolphin, The Beresford and Oxford Art Factory. At Arq, around midnight, roughly 20 officers walked onto a dancefloor packed with 200 people. Half the crowd left immediately.

James Twigg was there. He told the Sydney Morning Herald the police weren't verbally or physically aggressive, but the raid "seemed aggressive in nature, and it made people feel really uneasy." His footage shows groups of officers standing in a near-empty venue, music still pumping, a handful of patrons being questioned or searched. "You can only imagine the amount of money that would have been lost by the hospitality venue due to this aggressive behaviour," he told ABC Radio Sydney.

Here is the mechanism: a room goes flat when people feel watched, not when they feel unsafe from each other. A promoter trying to start a new party books the DJ, sorts the door, builds the night. Then 15 officers walk in with dogs and the floor clears in minutes. The promoter doesn't book the next one. That's not a safety outcome. That's a venue closure with extra steps.

NSW Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Peter McKenna said in a statement to the Herald that the operation was "intelligence-led" and "prevention-focused," targeting the whole entertainment precinct, not any minority group. Officers searched 65 people. Twenty-eight drug detections. Twelve fines. Six cannabis cautions. One move-on direction. Four licensing breaches across 15 venues. One minor inside a licensed premise.

The Surry Hills precinct has a "higher than average detection rate for prohibited drugs," McKenna said, and these operations run "intermittently" across the state. "There is no targeting of any venues frequented by any minority group, but rather the whole entertainment precinct, in line with every other police command."

Independent MP for Sydney Alex Greenwich, who was contacted by multiple patrons after the raids, told the Sydney Morning Herald that police were allegedly asking patrons to remove clothing in public view, walking dogs along queues, and questioning people about why they were leaving venues or what they were doing in the bathroom. He said the operation deployed "a large visual presence", and on ABC Radio Sydney he asked: "What was it trying to prevent?"

The timing is the other thing. The raids happened one day after the state government hosted a roundtable with Police Minister Yasmin Catley, Arts and Nighttime Economy Minister John Graham, Greenwich, City of Sydney Councillor Jess Miller and hospitality stakeholders to discuss the June drug raids on Oxford Street. In June, 93 people were searched and 42 drug detections were made. Greenwich and Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore asked the police watchdog to investigate. The initial probe cleared the officers, but the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission ordered NSW Police to reopen the misconduct investigation in August. That investigation has not concluded.

Redfern Legal Centre's Rian Terrell told the Herald the repeated deployment of drug dogs to Oxford Street venues "amount to targeted harassment of the LGBTQIA+ community." Drug dogs are intimidating and a safety risk, Terrell said, encouraging patrons to engage in risky behaviour like preloading or panic consumption. "The significant harm caused by deploying drug dogs and searching members of the LGBTQI+ community is not justified."

Night Time Industries Association vice-chair James Thorpe told the Herald nobody in the nighttime economy is arguing police should ignore serious crime or organised drug supply. "Searching large numbers of patrons in gay venues and producing fines for low-level possession is not the same thing as dismantling the supply chain." The raids, he said, highlighted an "extraordinary disconnect" between licensing police and Labor's $150 million nightlife vibrancy reforms.

Twigg told the Herald his friends from Brisbane and Melbourne refuse to come and party in Sydney anymore because they're scared of the NSW police force. Surry Hills resident Bob told QNews he questions whether to go out on Oxford Street at all. "It's not safe to go out anymore; you can't even walk down the street without worrying about the police. Seeing that many police officers standing outside a queer venue reminds us just how unsafe we are, even on Oxford Street."

A venue that clears when the police arrive isn't a safer venue. It's a closed one.

Correction, 27 September 2026: the raids were on Saturday 12 September, not the day before this story ran. Quotes are now credited to the outlets that obtained them: James Twigg's first comment was to the Sydney Morning Herald, not the ABC, and Alex Greenwich's question was on ABC Radio Sydney.