New ‘significant’ police taskforce cracks down on concerning wave of gang violence
Victoria Police is launching a new taskforce to crack down on organised crime gangs.
The VIPER taskforce will be resourced with 80 specialist officers whose remit will be to proactively target, disrupt and dismantle organised crime.
More bikies and organised crime figures will be hit with firearm prohibition orders, allowing officers to search their homes and vehicles any time without warrants.
The taskforce has been in development since last year but is being introduced now amid a wave of gang violence including the shooting of ex-Mongol Sam Abdulrahim in broad daylight at Fawkner on Saturday.
Chief Commissioner Shane Patton says the establishment of the VIPER Taskforce is “one of the most significant, coordinated and proactive moves against organised crime syndicates in Victoria Police’s history”.
Expert in outlaw motorcycle gangs from Queensland’s University of Technology, Associate Professor Mark Lauchs, says “it was probably time something had to happen” to crack down on bikies in Victoria.
“Really complex legislation was very hard to put in place, so the Queensland police rely very heavily on the domestic violence legislation which is easy to use, it’s easy to get an order, breaches are easy to discover and the orders apply across Australia, and also the punishments are actually harsher,” he told Stephen Quartermain and Elise Elliott, filling in for Ross and Russel.
“I’ve seen Victoria has been using firearm protection orders but the domestic violence legislation which Victoria obviously will have at all is probably another alternative that the police have available to them.”
Press PLAY below to hear how the taskforce will work