operation gradient reaching new heights - Queensland Police Union

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20 • Advertisements Queensland Police Union Journal Mar 10
Queensland Police Union Journal Mar 10 Operation Gradient Reaching New Heights • 21 Front left to right: Detectives John Saunders, Sally Gabel, Don Laird, Wes Biddle. Rear left to right : Detectives Kyle Ostapovitch, Brendan Anderson, Brad Nielsen. OPERATION GRADIENT REACHING NEW HEIGHTS FIGHTING YOUTH CRIME AND GANG VIOLENCE ON THE CITY STREETS By Paula Doneman. Photos by senior constables Russel Smith and Luke Cervetto HER attackers were a gang of teenage girls. They allegedly beat her and threw her into the Brisbane River. Not one of them stopped to think whether their victim could swim; not one of them thought about the consequences. They were allegedly following the orders of their 17-year-old leader who ran the City Bums street gang. This is the kind of mentality permeating the youth gang culture in Brisbane’s CBD. It was one of a series of unprecedented attacks and crimes being committed by groups of offenders aged 10 to 25 in the city and Fortitude Valley areas. Confronted with growing numbers of offenders, a taskforce was formed last August, and Operation Hotel-Gradient was launched. The taskforce was made up of two detectives each from the City CPIU and CIB, as well as the City and Fortitude Valley Tactical Crime Squads. The detectives knew they had to find a fresh way to tackle the problem, so they started at the top by undermining the credibility of the leaders and targeting their foot soldiers. “If we take away the foot soldiers, they have no one to lead. So we focused on the younger ones who are more impressionable,’’ said operational coordinator and City CPIU Detective Senior Constable Don Laird. “By engaging them in conversation we get to see who is following who…we saw cases where the younger ones were told to take the blame for offences committed by older members - like they do in outlaw motorcycle gangs but on a smaller scale. “All proceeds of crime would also go back to the leader,’’ Sen-Const Laird said. During the investigation into the Brisbane River bashing, detectives learned the leader had allegedly ordered three girls to attack their fellow member. “He allegedly told them she had dogged on them to the 5-0 (police) and as a result, three of the girls bashed her. The victim allegedly tried to jump in the river to escape but they pulled her back and continued punching her before throwing her into the Brisbane River. The victim tried to hide behind a pylon and he (leader) was allegedly throwing rocks at her and laughing.”
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Page 14 and 15: 12 • South East Region BOB SMITHS
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operation gradient reaching new heights - Queensland Police Union

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