UMC PRESS RELEASE 5/7/12
It's time for the police to tell the truth
For many years the police have been telling politicians, the media & ordinary citizens that
outlaw motorcycle clubs are criminal organisations. This argument has been the basis for
the police lobby that Federal & State Governments introduce controversial anti-association,
consorting and tattoo parlour laws.
The truth
Motorcycle advocates have long disputed this claim citing years of experience in the
motorcycle culture. But, they have been ignored. Now, there is evidence that they are correct.
The Australian Crime Commission said in a report, dated April 2011;
"... There has always been a criminal element within OMCGs but in the majority of
cases OMCG chapters do not engage in organised crime as a group."
Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, April 2011
Former NSW Director of Public Prosecutions, Nicholas Cowdery QC, said, in
Queensland, recently;
"...the typical Australian bikie's drug and violence offences were 'ordinary crimes',
mostly carried out by individuals and very rarely part of a gang-wide enterprise."
Courier Mail 7/6/2012
Summarising investigative journalist Adam Shand's conclusion, after a five year study
into Australian outlaw bikers, Outlaws-The Truth about Australian Bikers;
"What he found were not crime gangs but brotherhoods battling for their survival
against threats from within and without." Allen and Unwin, November 2011
Sydney Morning Herald journalist, Ilya Gridneff
, revealed NSW Police crime statisticsfrom a 2008 report show crimes involving OMCG members are not significant;
"A police report on the gangs- or OMCGs- using a decade worth of crime data,
obtained by the Herald, shows in NSW "OMCG members have contributed to 0.37
per cent of offences committed." SMH May 7 2012
And, in response to the introduction of these unwarranted laws, NSW Bar Association
President, Bernard Coles QC
, said in a letter to the Attorney-General;"Both of these provisions outlined above have the effect of criminalising members of
the community who are not otherwise engaging in criminal activity." page 3,
21/2/2012
If the police had not called for the new laws based on false information they would not be
in existence and people would not be targeted for whom they are rather than what they do.
The United Motorcycle Council of NSW calls for a public Parliamentary Inquiry into this subversion of the democratic process.
