Police search the home of the Alameddine family, some of whom are subject to firearms prohibition orders, in December 2015. Credit:Peter Rae "It was embarrassing, especially for someone who didn't do anything wrong, being pulled over and searched on the street. "Sometimes it was twice a day." Mr Hamze wasn't part of a gang but suspects he was slapped with a FPO because of his family associations, which included cousin and Supermax inmate Bassam Hamzy. Mr Hamze, who had a conviction in 2012 for resisting and intimidating police, eventually had the order overturned on review after successfully arguing there was no basis for him having one two years ago.

A man is arrested over a plot to shoot Merrylands Police Station. Credit:NSW Police Media Unit "In relation to challenging the FPO we argued our client was a fit and proper person and the delegate agreed," his solicitor Fadi Abbas said. "Our client's premises and vehicle was searched in excess of five times a week with no adverse findings against him." Police scour through cars at a Merrylands house in 2015 as part of a FPO search. Credit:Peter Rae Mr Hamze was one of hundreds of people served with an order after legislative reforms boosted police powers three years ago, allowing officers to search FPO targets - including their cars and homes - without a warrant.

Since then, the number of orders handed out by NSW Police has soared. FPOs issued between 2014 and 2015 increased by more than 200 per cent, according to figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request. NSW Police Organised Crime director Detective Chief Superintendent Ken Finch. Credit:Ben Rushton Just over 250 FPOs were issued in 2014 and 520 were handed out the following year. Detective Chief Superintendent Ken Finch attributed the increase to a "deliberate strategy" to target emerging crime figures, including bikies and Middle Eastern organised crime targets. "We have used that as a deliberate strategy to look at people who in the past may well have been eligible to have a FPO but the focus wasn't on them as much as it was in November 2013," the NSW Police Organised Crime director said.

When the search powers were introduced in 2013, public place shootings were an alarmingly regular occurrence in Sydney. NSW shootings are now at the lowest level in 20 years, according to the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. Superintendent Finch believes the past two years has clearly demonstrated the efficacy of the FPO regime. "It has value added and focused us more because we have had some tools we can actually utilise to try and disrupt and prevent gun-related violence," he said. "We would say that the FPOs...not withstanding the extraordinary nature of the powers, we do not tread with them in a cavalier or heavy-handed way. We exercise them judiciously and responsibly." However the "extraordinary" scope of those search powers and "potential for abuse" has drawn concern from legal groups.

The NSW Bar Association pointed out that the criteria for issuing a FPO did not have to rely on a person having a firearm history and could be based on untested police intelligence. Raiding the house of someone with a FPO does not need to be based on the suspicion that the person actually had a gun either, the association argued in its submission to the NSW Ombudsman's two-year review of FPO search powers. The review, which was finalised last month, found guns were found in two per cent of all searches, with 35 guns taken off the streets in two years. However, it also found more than 200 people were put through potentially unlawful searches as they weren't subject to FPOs. Despite the criticism, police claim the orders are a very effective way of disrupting the activities of serious criminals or "keeping crooks on their toes".

After crime figure Walid "Wally" Ahmad was shot dead in April, the FPO search powers helped police in its bid to quell the real threat of retaliation. Fairfax Media understands one threat police were told of was that associates of the Ahmads had explosives and were intending to firebomb the homes of a rival family in response to Mr Ahmad's murder in Bankstown. The threat never eventuated but police say FPO search powers come in handy in disrupting such retribution plots. After threats were made to shoot up Merrylands police station, officers last December raided the homes of two known western Sydney families, several of whom had members slapped with FPOs.