A Strike Force Raptor officer during a raid

Image 2017 © AAP Image/Supplied by NSW Police

Two News Limited journos have spent months inside the Strike Force Raptor, documenting the battle to clean up outlaw motorcycle gangs.

According to the Strike Force Raptor Facebook page, they were “established by State Crime Command’s Gangs Squad in 2009. It is a proactive and high-impact operation targeting outlaw motorcycle gangs and any associated criminal enterprises… Officers will target everything from traffic offences and bail compliance, to firearm and security licensing, to drug offences and illegal business practices, to violence and retribution.”

The force was established after a horrific brawl that took place at Sydney Airport between rival gangs the Comacheros and Hells Angels. It left one bikie dead and outraged the entire community.

In speaking to the Daily Telegraph, one senior investigator said, “They [bikie gangs] see themselves as the 1 per cent who don’t want to live by community standards and we view it as our job to make them conform.”

Commander of the Gangs Squad, Detective Superintendent Deb Wallace also spoke with the Daily Telegraph, saying, “It is important that the community feels safe. If we receive information that bikies are intimidating other members of the community, you can rest assured they will be visited by officers from Raptor and their anti-social ways will be toned down quick smart.”

Since Strike Force Raptor cracked down on these gangs, there have been more than 1315 guns seized, 900 search warrants carried out, and 3700 people put before the courts.

Tonight on the show, we’ll be joined by Claire Harvey, Deputy Editor at The Daily Telegraph, who spent months with Strike Force Raptor.