​Man Emails Mike Baird, Nine Cops Show Up at His House

New South Wales Premier Mike Baird isn't having a great day. Late last night he posted on Facebook, calling out what he saw as the "hysterical claim that Sydney is dead." Baird berated his critics, claiming assaults are down 42.4 percent since the lockout laws came into effect. However, there have been nearly 12,000 comments since then, many countering the Premier's statistics.

"Your cherry picked facts do not represent the situation truthfully," one reads. "While assaults may be down 40 per cent in Kings Cross, there has been an even bigger decline in total foot traffic—which means proportionally the area may be worse than ever."

A lot of commenters have accused the Premier's office of deleting critical comments, a claim that's been denied. Either way, the lockout laws are clearly a touchy subject for Mike Baird.

For example, Johnny Donovan is a Sydneysider who decided earlier this week to email Mike Baird about his feelings on the lockout laws. When he was at work on Monday, Johnny got a call from his housemates. There were nine cops at his house, and they were looking for him. "(My housemates) were terrified," Johnny says. "They thought I was injured or dead or something." His housemates told him the cops had asked where Johnny worked, and they were on their way there.

Johnny had no idea why. But a few hours earlier he'd seen a link doing the rounds on Facebook, urging people to email NSW Premier Mike Baird and tell him how Sydney's lock out laws were affecting their lives.

The lockout laws have been controversial since they first came in as "part of the NSW Government's crackdown on drug and alcohol-fuelled violence". Sydney businessman Matt Barrie recently penned an 8400-word opus accusing the lockout of killing Sydney's nightlife. "Every week, another venue or restaurant closes," Barrie wrote. "The soul of the city has been destroyed."

Soul is hard to quantify, but foot traffic isn't. Since the laws came in it's fallen by 89 percent in Kings Cross. Up until a few months ago, Johnny had been working in a bar in the city, it was a second job to help him make rent. But with the lockout laws came slow nights, and his boss eventually told him he would have to find some other work. A lot of his friends have faced the same fallout—bartenders, waiters, chefs—who are all struggling to find employment after the lockout came in.

Johnny says the other big blow dealt by the laws is the impact on Sydney's social life, people are just not going out and meeting up as much. As someone who's struggled with depression in the past, he thinks this is an impact the Premier hasn't really considered.

It was all these things Johnny channeled into his email to the Premier, he was pissed but he also didn't seriously think anyone would read it. "I just don't see the point of living in Sydney anymore," he signed off. And this is why the cops showed up, his hastily written hundred word note was taken as a suicide threat.

Johnny's housemate Matthew was upstairs when he heard a voice calling out around 4pm on Monday. He came down to find six police crammed into the doorway, one stepped forward to tell him they were looking for Johnny. Matthew says they were pretty intimidating, the one speaking had a tazer attached to his vest.

"I was thinking, 'Oh shit. Is he dead or something?' The cops don't just come to your house for no reason," Matthew explains.

As three or four more police pulled up to the house, the officer explained to Matthew that Johnny had sent an email to the Premier's office, threatening to kill himself. "They said, 'The Premier was disturbed by the email,'" Matthew recalls. The police asked where Johnny worked, loaded back into their cars and left. Neighbours gawked and Matthew and Johnny's other housemate quickly ducked back inside to call Johnny and tell him what had just happened.

Within 20 minutes, the police arrived at Johnny's work. He said they characterised his email as threatening, and told him that if he had killed himself it would be the Premier's responsibility. "Do you have any plans on self-harming?" they asked him. When he said no, trying to explain the intent of the email, he was told he should voice his thoughts elsewhere.

Johnny says it was a pretty humiliating experience, having to turn around and explain to his boss why the cops had just showed up to his work asking if he was planning on killing himself.

The question of why the cops would react like this still lingers. When asked by VICE for an explanation for what happened to Johnny the Premier's office responded: "We don't comment on security arrangements or on individual correspondence."

Both Matthew and Johnny agree though, how the cops went about responding to a suicide call wasn't right. "Nine cops trying to intimidate you into not killing yourself isn't going to do anything," Matthew says. Johnny says sees the other side—that the police were just doing their job—but he also thinks it was a massive overreaction.

But it's a response that characterises the Baird Government's approach. Issues with violence on the streets were met with sweeping city-wide restrictions that have had serious flow on consequences. The backlash to Baird's post suggests he's out of step with many of the people of Sydney: A city that is rejecting the laws and questioning the Premier's intent of exempting casinos, including James Packer's Barangaroo development, from the restrictions.

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If you are struggling with depression or suicide, call the Lifeline on 13 11 14