Mark Morrie Crime Editor
The Daily Telegraph
February 14,2014
THE new boss of the NSW Police Gang Squad has a message for Sydney’s most infamous gang members: You’re nothing special.
And Detective Superintendent Debbie Wallace says she won’t treat gang bosses with kid gloves either. “They are just criminals and don’t warrant any sort of special status,’’ she said yesterday.
Supt Wallace takes it her stride that she is the first female boss of the Gang Squad.
“It’s really not an issue. I’ve been in the NSW police force for over 30 years. On my second day a respected policewoman I know told me there were two things to remember. Never lose your integrity or your femininity.’’
It’s not as if dealing with criminal gangs is anything new for Supt Wallace.
In the 90s she was a detective at Cabramatta fighting Asian street gangs, including the infamous 5T, which have since vanished.
And for the past five and half years she has headed the Middle Eastern Crime squad (MEOCS) which has been credited with the dismantling the vicious Brothers for Life gang responsible for dozens of shootings in Sydney over the past 12 months.
“There is a lot of crossover. Many Middle Eastern criminals are either in outlaw motor cycle gangs, associated with them or do business with them so my time with the MEOCS will help with the new role.
“The major difference is bikies have a banner which they trade on to intimidate people. Other gangs often implode or just die out, like the 5T and the Brothers for Life which sprung up in 2008 and have now been reduced markedly.
“But bikies have a brand which is more enduring and even international. They wear their colours which to them gives them special status.’’
Supt Wallace said the squad will continue to disrupt bikie business with a special squad, called Raptor, set up in 2009 targeting OMCG whenever they can.
They routinely stop known members for vehicle checks, licence checks and just to let them know they are being watched.
“We also have a strategy in place to close down their club houses by any means we can. We will get other government agencies in to breach them for fire regulations, building codes – anything that is available to us we will use.
Wallace says making it hard for bikies to meet takes away a lot of their power. “They exist as a group. If we stop them meeting at gyms, cafes or anywhere else it makes it hard for them to do business.’’
Supt Wallace’s transfer to the squad is part of a major reshuffling of the state’s crime commanders announced two weeks ago.
Supt Wallace said she will initially spend time on the street.
“It is the best way to know what is going on and what the officers in the field are up against,’’ she said.
A-G TAKES BIKIE LAWS DISPUTE TO HIGH COURT Mark Morri
THE High Court will today hear an application by the NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith to bypass the Court of Appeal after bikies launched a legal challenge against new consorting laws.
Tough new anti-consorting laws aimed at cracking down on bikies similar to those introduced in Queensland were passed by the O’Farrell government last November after a number of public shootings.
The government and the police want the matter resolved after two Nomads and another man challenged the new laws after being charged with consorting. Lawyers representing Nomads boss Sleiman Tajjour and fellow bikie Justin Hawthorne, who are challenging the laws in the Court of Appeals, support the High Court application.
Lawyers for Charlie Foster, an intellectually handicapped 21-year-old from Inverell, have also challenged the laws.
The consorting laws impose a penalty of up to three years jail for convicted offenders who continue to consort with other criminals who have been convicted of an indictable offence after receiving an official police warning.
The Attorney-General used his right to seek removal to the High Court under s40 of the Judiciary Act 1903, after receiving legal advice.
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