There have been comments made in the media recently abou the current Sydney shooting epidemic compared with the year 2000 which is still considered the "record" year for shooting incidents in our city.
Invariably the comparisons between the two time periods tend to play down the current
situation and perhaps make us feel a little relieved that things are not as bad as they were
more than a decade ago.
But there are distinct differences between the two time periods that have not
been publicly explained and they need to be.
The year 1999-2000 was the year that Cabramatta exploded into an all-out gang
war between two rival groups who were seeking control of Australia's heroin capital,
Cabramatta. Many of the murders that occurred were linked to the two warring
gangs or their associates.
In the main, the shootings were confined to a very small geographical area, much
smaller to where the shootings are occurring today. It was inevitable that both gangs
would ultimately destroy each other and that is what occurred, along with a long
overdue police crackdown on gang and drug offences.
Many of the gangsters died,were arrested and imprisoned or simply disappeared off the
face of the earth and as a result a war zone turned into a tourist hot spot.
However, these recent shootings in Sydney are occurring in a much wider area
of the city and they appear not to be confined to just two gangs. From what I have read
and been told, the numbers of young men in southwest Sydney that either carry or
have access to handguns is simply staggering.
But what alarms me more,as a former detective who witnessed first-hand the
explosion in Cabramatta, is that the current shooting incidents can occur anywhere
and at anytime across south-west Sydney and for a multitude of reasons — not
just related to drug turf wars.
That anyone in certain areas of our city can quickly access a handgun to then use in a
minor dispute signals a clear and present danger to all of Sydney.
Cabramatta's problems were the result of years of neglect by police commanders
and a refusal to acknowledge the problem, let alone rectify it. That does not appear to be
the case in southwest Sydney today where huge police resources are being applied.
Yet still they are having little deterrent effect.
To some extent, the shootings in southwest Sydney are also a legacy of the
previous government, which almost succeeded in ompletely disabling our police force.
It is slowly getting back on its feet but it is still very much a work in progress.
But at some point in time,the O'Farrell government will run out of excuses as to why _
they have been unable to curb this seemingly endless saga of gun-related crime. There is
also little or no chance that the Gillard government will be able to come up with a long-
term meaningful solution to this alarming epidemic.
So NSW will have to go it alone and they should be able to, given that they were given
the biggest mandate to govern in Australian electoral history almost two years ago.
The first thing Barry O'Farrell has to realise is that none of the measures being
used now are having any impact on the gun violence problems here in Sydney.
There is no deterrent either from policing strategies and certainly none from the courts,
and therein lies the problem.
It's time to think outside the square and invent new strategies. I would start with
the NSW Crime Commission which has recently undergone a long needed re-invigoration
by Police Minister Mike Gallacher.The Crime Commission needs to be at the
forefront of measures taken to prevent and deter the south-western gangster mentality
that continues to attract a never-ending source of impressionable young men.
The commission operates almost entirely in a shroud of secrecy and for operational
reasons this must continue but consideration has to be given to also allow it to hold public
hearings just as the ICAC and the PIC do.
When gangsters are brought before the crime commission they are interrogated behind closed doors and no one apart from crime commission staff, police and defence lawyers know who they are. It's time that perhaps the cloak of anonymity that protects these thugs was lifted so the whole of Sydney can know who they are and where they operate.
We do this to corrupt cops and politicians so why not expose murders, gun runners and drug dealers in the same way? We might then see a new spirit of co-operation from previously reluctant neighbours and relatives who have vital information on specific incidents involving said gangsters.
There will be the usual screeching from the civil libertarians and defence lawyers but very few of them actually live in southwest Sydney and most probably think a drive-by is a McDonald's outlet.
The other more costly alternative is to hold a special commission of inquiry into organised crime in southwest Sydney and publicly expose anyone connected to the insidious trade in illegal drugs,firearms and its associated
violence.
"It's time to lift the veil of secrecy surrounding crime families,whose very existence is often nurtured inadvertently bylaws meant to protect the average law abiding citizen."
The secrecy surrounding police operations into organised crime has its limitations, particularly if the evidence against these suspects falls short of the required criminal proofs needed for prosecutions. It's time to lift the veil of secrecy surrounding crime families,whose very existence is often nurtured inadvertently by laws meant to protect the average law abiding citizen.
The new consorting laws have to be relentlessly and ruthlessly applied by a dedicated police task ferce similar to those successfully used in the US to hunt down and prosecute hard to get felons.
And despite delivering the government's pre-election promise of record police numbers, there are by international standards,simply not enough police in NSW and, indeed, across the country. While police numbers rise slowly each year,organised crime is flourishing at an alarming rate simply because police resources are stretched to breaking point.
Perhaps a new federal government under Tony Abbott might do a Bill Clinton and federally fund a huge increase in state police numbers as the US President did during the 1990s, which resulted in massive drops in crime rates across America.
If not, the idea of special reserve police officers needs to be considered to bolster full-
time police numbers where and when they are needed.
Part-time cops are used throughout the western world, particularly in the US, and
they are extremely effective and economical.
Northern Ireland had the world renowned B Specials that operated during The Troubles and it could be done here.
What is needed to make our city safe again is innovation, not procrastination, and with his record mandate Barry O'Farrell is in the right place at the right time to leave a lasting legacy and set the standard for the rest of the country. If he doesn't then it is just a matter of years before Sydney becomes the not-so- proud owner of designated bandit zones and no-go areas and no one wants that.
The greatest mistake former PM John Howard ever made,
Australia's ban on firearms has only ensured that the Non Criminal / Gang member is unarmed and that it is business as usual for those who tell us daily that their only objective is to eliminate Judeo Christian Civilization in Australia.
What were known as "South Western Sydney Suburbs" are now in reality, Sydney's Occupied Territories, where armed gangs of predominantly (Pious?) Middle Eastern Muslims roam at will, administering their very own "Cultural Enrichment" of Australia, under the auspicies of the Labor Green Loon's Multiculturalism / Open Borders Policies of Diversity and Cultural Enrichment.
The Australian Labor Party,the Greens, Progressives and their media apologists, tell Australians that we MUST celebrate DIVERSITY.
Gee even if your wife or daughter was gang raped "Leb Style" or your son was shot stabbed or beaten to death by any of the "Progressives" Cultural Enrichment Ambassadors, just think of the fun you and the surviving Infidel members of your family can still have every year at a Labor Green Loon sponsored "Harmony Day" spectacular paid for by YOUR TAXES.
Sitting Ducks
- 6 shooting fatalities since October
- 5 shootings this year
- 187 shootings since Barry O'Farrell was elected
2013
January 22-31-year-old man was shot in the leg while walking near the
intersection of Acacia Ave and Napoleon Rd, Greenacre.
January 20 - 24-year-old man shot in the chest and killed at Cidley
Crescent, Claymore.
January 15 - One man shotand killed, another wounded In the arm
following a shooting at Wetherill Hill at3:50pm.
January 13-Man shot in the stomach and chest at his home in
Homebush in what police believe was a targeted shooting.
January 9 - 32-year-old man sustained a gunshot wound to his
head at Mullaway Bay.
2012
December 30,2012 - 21-year-old man shot in the stomach at Busby
December 24 - 22-year-old man shot in thecal fat Lansvale.
December 2D - Shots fired into a house at Panama. No one injured
December 18 - 28-year-old male shot and killed outside his home in
Punchbowl.
December 18 - Drive-by shooting at a home In Cherrybrook.
December 18 - Shots reportedly fired during an argument in Mosman.
December 18 - A single shot fired into a home in Milperra.
December 4 - Several shots were fired during an altercation between
two men in Auburn.
December 1 - A 23-year-old man attended Auburn Hospital with a
gunshot wound to his right lower leg.
November 29 - Drive-by shooting at a home in Hunter Ave, Lurnea in the
middle of the day. Two men and their mother escaped uninjured.
November 27 - One man killed and other injured after they were shot at
in broad daylight in Leumeah Ave,Punchbowl.
November 21 - Shots fired into home In Edgewater Drive, Bella Vista.
November 21-Shots fired into home in the vicinity of Cranbrook and
Salisbury Rd, Bellevue Hill.
November 21 - Man shot while sitting In car on Andy St,Guildford West.
November 7-Man found sertously injured from gunshot wounds on Rider
Boulevard, Rhodes.
November 5 - Three men shot outside wedding reception at a
function centre on Bareena St, Cahley Vale. A 23-year-old man later died of
his injuries.
October 23 - Shots fired In a home In Busby St,Busby.
October 21 - Shots fired into taxi on Fairmount St, Lakemba.
October 20 - Man shot in face in Newtown.
October 18 - Shots fired into home at Garnett St, Merrylands,
October 18 - Shots fired Into home at Caroline Chisholm Drive at
Winston Hills.
October 14 - One man shot dead and another seriously injured in a daylight
shooting In Greenacre.
October 10 - Double shooting Kfhilla and Rawson streets.Auburn.
October 9 - Shot fired during brawl on Charlton St, Woy Woy.
October 8 - Man suffered shot to his leg George St, Yagoona.
October 4 - Man found with gunshot wound, person charged,
Treuer Pde Bankstown.
October 3 - Man shot in the leg Boythorn Ave and Barnaby,
Ambarvale.
Above post sourced from the Daily Telegraph Saturday 26 Janurary2013 Pgs. 40 & 41
