Bikie bosses ‘don’t care about mates’
Each member, particularly the higher-ranked members, seemed to be about protecting themselves and not doing things to support the junior members.
Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith
THE bikie code of silence that often hinders police investigations is “shifting” as there’s no loyalty among gang members, a senior detective says.
And police say senior members are more frequently looking out for themselves, leaving their underlings to sit in jail.
Speaking generally, Organised Crime Gangs Group Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith said feedback from the gang exit program revealed many were questioning why they joined a club after being left without support behind bars.
“I think it’s important to note that (the code of silence) is shifting, there is no loyalty among these gangs,” he said.
“Each member, particularly the higherranked members, seemed to be about protecting themselves and not doing things to support the junior members.
“We have many outlaw motorcycle (club) members sitting in jails, who thought they were doing the right thing by the club, and now they’re getting no support whatsoever and they’re wondering ‘ why did I join the gang’.”
Supt Smith said senior bikies would get junior members to “commit the crimes”, giving themselves a layer of protection.
“The junior members are doing this with an expectation that they’ll be looked after, but they’re not. We’ve been saying for some time that if people knew the truth, they wouldn’t join a gang … there’s no loyalty, it’s not like the movies.”
Supt Smith said there were many ways around the “code of silence” including using powers held by different agencies.
“They need to understand that it’s not a bulletproof protection for them,” he said.
“We don’t stop … we don’t suddenly say this is too hard and move on. We adapt and adjust our strategies and our investigative techniques to get the result needed by the community.”