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How many bikie forts has Mike Rann knocked down?
By Police Reporter SAM RICHES
27jul05
THE State Government's "tough stance" on outlaw motorcycle clubs and promises to allow councils to demolish clubroom fortresses has resulted in no action since legislation was introduced in February last year.
 
The anti-fortification legislation was "inadequate to do the job", Opposition police spokesman Robert Brokenshire said.
 
"Mike Rann, you beat your chest (but) what you've done is created a situation where the outlaw motorcycle gangs are playing a game with you," he said.
 
"Now people are at their wits end and your people are saying `oh, it's up to police'.
 
"There are only two ways you can fix these bikies, that's to double (police bikie unit) Avatar funding or bring in legislation that singles out bikies from the rest of the community and give the police powers to police them 24/7 in this state so they can't do anything," he said.
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 

Attorney-General Michael Atkinson said anti-fortification laws had given police new and drastic powers they did not have before.
 
"If police have reasonable grounds to believe serious crime is going on behind barricades, then they should tear them down," he said.
 
Mr Atkinson said the Liberal Party hadn't seen fit in government to introduce such far-reaching powers.
 
"I certainly don't recall them suggesting at the time that the law should be wider ranging."
 
Mr Atkinson said police could seek a fortification removal order from the Magistrates Court if they had reasonable grounds to believe an existing building could, or was likely to, shield serious crimes such as those involving drugs, firearms or explosives.
 
Such orders can also relate to fortifications concealing evidence of serious crime or hiding its proceeds.
 
No action had been taken against existing fortresses.
 
Residents near forts at Royal Park, Clarence Gardens, Windsor Gardens and Seaford said the worry of bikie criminal activity was always present.
 
"It's always in the back of my head if a rival gang started shooting I'd be caught right in the middle of it," said Mrs Dorothy McCarthy, 70, of Clarence Park.
 
"They are a law unto themselves. You have to have some sort of control and I don't think the police have . . ." "
 
But police said there was no justification to tear down fences or raid properties.
 
"The level of community concern doesn't necessarily link to requirements that we have to consider under the anti-fortification laws," Detective Chief Superintendent Denis Edmonds said.
 
"There are two ways in which the fortifications can be removed in the planning stages and this has gone past that as it's an established site. "If we would take action we need to consider what we prove under legislation."
 
 

 

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