Strike Force Raptor returned to ‘raw form’ in bikie gang crackdown
A boost to NSW’s outlaw motorcycle gang strike force has been “fast-tracked” following a close call in Sydney’s west.
A nurse was injured in a drive-by shooting in Auburn earlier this week when a stray bullet shattered glass at a nearby hospital.
In its 12 years of operation, Strike Force Raptor has arrested more than 6,000 criminals, laid more than 15,000 charges and seized more than 2,000 firearms.
NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson told Ray Hadley Raptor became “too heavily reliant upon longer-term investigations” after a merger.
“We decided to split Raptor out of the Criminal Groups Squad, and turn it back into its raw form of proactive intervention and disruption.”
Commencing Monday, “full of energy” Jason Weinstein will be welcomed as the squad’s new superintendent, in hopes of ending Raptor’s recent leadership troubles.
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Superintendent Weinstein stressed to Jim Wilson Raptor has not been “sitting on their hands” in recent years, but welcomed the return to more proactive policing.
“That day-to-day intervention, that gang-busting stuff that has been seen time and time again, hasn’t been occurring.”
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Police Minister David Elliott told Jim Wilson police will stop at nothing to apprehend and disrupt OMCGs, even if it’s for a crime as trivial as jaywalking, and have been given the legislative power to do so.
“We want to make sure that they’ve got not only the financial and personal support, but they want to know that the government’s got their back.
“I’m giving them political air cover, because I think 99.9 per cent of the population wants these gangs destroyed.”
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Image: NSW Police