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Young Thugs
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Young thugs and the DPP
Re Today’s Advertiser, 29/10/03:
www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7702918%255E910,00.
(Thugs Rule)
/news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7699072%255E2682,00. (DPP)
Young thugs and DPP inquiry are connected. SA is the fruit of what has been
sown.
DPP is corrupt; Paul Rofe blames insufficient money.
Get the money right with SA Freedom Tax (1% on money turnover). Jail Rofe.
That will fix SA and there will be no further excuse for the young thugs; so if
they persist, jail them too.
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More
Explanation |
Young
thugs, the Advertiser report
THUGS
WHO RULE
By SAM RICHES and GREG KELTON
October 29, 2003
GANGS of young "thugs" will be targeted by police in a campaign to
control escalating crime in Adelaide's southern suburbs.
After initially denying the problem existed, senior police and the State
Government yesterday conceded that up to 14 youth gangs, including one with
possible links to an outlaw motorcycle gang, are terrorising residents.
Police Minister Kevin Foley branded the youth gangs as thugs and warned they
will be dealt with "by the full force of the law".
The development came after The Advertiser yesterday revealed that people in
suburbs including Woodcroft, Reynella and Morphett Vale were living in fear of
gangs of youths roaming the streets at night, vandalising property and
assaulting people.
Hundreds more examples of terrified residents emerged yesterday, including a
70-year-old Morphett Vale Neighbourhood Watch member who lives near the largest
gang haunt.
"We are fighting a losing battle," she said. "We are prisoners
in our own home. We feel helpless.
"We don't go out because we are putting ourselves at risk."
Police Assistant Commissioner of Southern Operations, Bryan Fahy, said
yesterday "it's certainly very clear now that there is a lot of concern
among the community there".
In response to public outrage over the initial denial of gangs by police, he
said police were not "sitting idle".
He announced details of an operation to target youth vandalism and crime
activity.
Mr Foley met Police Commissioner Mal Hyde yesterday to discuss tougher laws to
deal with rogue elements in the community. "Thuggish behaviour, wherever
it occurs, whether it's a bikie gang or a bunch of kids, needs to be dealt with
by the full force of the law," he said.
Mr Foley said the Government expected proper standards of behaviour and the
police would ensure the law was enforced "and the thugs are dealt
with".
"It is unacceptable behaviour and this Government demands better from the
young people in our community," he said.
"We expect decent standards of behaviour so we are going to crack down on
them."
Mr Foley said the Government wanted to ensure rogue elements could not
"terrorise and scare decent people going about their ordinary lives".
One gang member who volunteered information about general gang activity to The
Advertiser on Monday became a victim yesterday. He was bashed by another group
of youths in a retaliation attack for going public.
Operation Side Screen, in partnership with other agencies including Transport
SA, begins on Saturday, targeting gangs vandalising dozens of properties in the
Woodcroft area with graffiti. A separate intelligence gathering operation has
begun which will culminate with tactical moves on elements of gangs involved in
criminal activities.
"Operation Sign is focused towards a particular youth group and has been
running for a number of months," Asst-Comm Fahy said. "I ask the
public to acknowledge police are active in this regard.
"We have reassessed what's occurring. Specific operations are being put
into place."
Assuring the public they were safe and there was "no need to be
concerned", Asst-Comm Fahy said there was "a difference between the
perception that is being given here and the reality".
While describing the "reality", he said police had identified 14
gangs in the southern suburbs which had members, aged as young as 10 years.
When asked about possible links between youth gangs and the Rebels bikie gang,
Asst-Comm Fahy said there is information suggesting a link between the two but
more detail is needed before police can take any action.
Police said they welcomed increased police numbers planned by the Government
but, at present, they had adequate numbers to deal with the number of reports
they were receiving.
"If people are prepared to come to the police, then certainly we're
prepared to do something about it," Asst-Comm Fahy said.
When asked about a special task force, Mr Foley said he was told by Mr Hyde
specific initiatives already were being put into place in the south.
Mr Foley said the Government would consider legislation proposed by independent
MP Bob Such to toughen graffiti laws, making it mandatory for vandals to clean
up their mess.
The Advertiser
DPP Inquiry, the Advertiser report
Inquiry
into conduct of DPP office
By State Political Reporter GREG KELTON
October 29, 2003
STAFFING levels, resources and conduct of the Director of Public Prosecutions
office will be investigated by State Parliament.
The issue has been referred to the Economic and Finance Committee by Liberal
frontbencher Iain Evans who said yesterday "it will be one of the more
interesting inquiries undertaken by this committee".
He said there had been considerable public debate about the office and its use
of resources.
"This inquiry will give ex-staff and others in the legal profession the
opportunity to come forward under parliamentary privilege and tell us about any
problems in the office," he said.
Decisions on who might be called to give evidence to the DPP inquiry are
expected to be made at committee meetings once Parliament resumes on November
10.
The move by Mr Evans follows claims by DPP officers in August – at the height
of the public row over the Nemer shooting case – that eight out of 10 cases
were being resolved by plea bargaining and by the office that it had
insufficient funding.
In his annual report to Parliament this month, Director of Public Prosecutions
Paul Rofe, QC, says: "The persistent problem facing the DPP in SA has been
the level of resources. This office has consistently run on a resource level
far less than its interstate counterparts."
Mr Rofe says that after 10 years of "insufficient funding" the office
is "stretched to its limit with staff working long hours and a six-day
week as a matter of course".
"Unless the office is given a significant injection of funds in the short
term, I am of the view that the DPP will not be able to properly perform its
essential functions in the criminal justice system," he says.
The Advertiser
The Gang Epidemic by John
Robertson
For
the past 30 years the adult leaders have been taking the future from the youth.
Many have moved out but many have stayed, frustrated. Physical people do not
write letters, emails and webpages, they do things physical. Why not bash an
old person? Who else has taken away their future? Not me, the old person may
say. Well who has been apathetic and allowed SA to run down? Not the children.
The Justice System is corrupt. When some people within the system are jailed we
everyday people will know that corruption is being exposed and not covered up.
There is no excuse, the money is in SA to do the job, a weak Treasury is just
not providing it. Scrapping all existing SA taxes and instead, using the
Freedom Tax, 1% on the money turnover, would provide more than enough money for
the Government to do what it should do.
Fix the Law and fix the Money and the future for all is fixed.
You are the problem, not the Yobs your combined attitude
has created.
You think I am wrong? Well email me and say so, that is the challenge.
johnrobertson@freedomsolution.info
30 October 2003 The Advertiser
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