National Anti-gang Taskforce Announced by Prime Minister

The Sydney Morning Herald today reports that “[t]he Prime Minister's plan for a $64 million national anti-gang taskforce has garnered provisional support from political foes and the state's police” – tentative support because more detail is awaited on how the $64 million is to be spent and  how the money will be allocated between state and federal resources.

The Prime Minister and the Home Affairs Minister are reported as saying that the “National Anti-Gang Taskforce” as it is being called, will be based on the FBI's Violent Gangs Safe Street Taskforce. The taskforce will target gangs involved in weapons trading and drug dealing where those activities occur across state boarders. The taskforce will be staffed by state and federal police officers with permanent teams to be based in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The taskforce will also be responsible for co-ordinating intelligence gathering around the country and internationally.

The FBI's Safe Streets Violent Crime Initiative, on which the plan is modelled, was announced as far back as January 1992 in the USA and was designed to allow each FBI field office to address violent street gangs and drug-related violence through the establishment of FBI sponsored, long-term, proactive task forces focusing on violent gangs, crimes of violence, and the apprehension of violent fugitives.

The aim was to make the Task Force a vehicle through which all of the federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies could join together to address violent organised crime plaguing their communities.  The FBI’s Safe Streets and Gang Unit currently runs, 160 Violent Gang Safe Streets Task Forces.

The Prime minister is also reported as indicating that the Australian plan will give state police forces better access to federal resources, such as; the Australian Tax Office, Centrelink and the Department of Immigration - so as to better target criminal gang activity and the seizure of assets. This will be in addition to measures like the AFP Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce, which will help state strike teams seize assets bought with the proceeds of gang-related crimes.

Read the full Sydney Morning Herald article.

Read about the USA's FBI Taskforce.

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