Queensland police declare crackdown on bikies after massive Gold Coast brawl

Updated

Queensland authorities are advising bikie gangs to leave the Gold Coast while they can, announcing a crackdown on outlaw motorcycle clubs and organised crime after a massive brawl on Friday night resulted in 18 arrests.

Declaring that bikie gangs have "had their day", Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie says the government is considering a raft of new laws to shutdown organised crime.

"We are looking at particular laws the United States have introduced, racketeering laws which they call RICO," he said.

"We are looking at what New South Wales have done with respect to the banning of colours from the Night club district and we will do all the laws necessary to protect Queenslanders."

Eighteen people were charged on Saturday over two brawls involving the Bandidos bikie gang and another outlaw motorcycle club.

Police needed to use stun guns during a brawl that broke out near a Gold Coast tapas bar on Friday and involved about 60 people.

A short time later, a second disturbance occurred involving bikie gang members outside the Southport watchhouse, where some suspects from the first incident had been taken.

The brawls follow the shooting early Friday morning of a long-serving police officer on the Gold Coast.

Dog Squad Sergeant Gary Hamrey was shot below his left cheekbone when he confronted two thieves hiding behind a garden shed on acreage at Parkwood.

The shooting occurred on the same day as the sentencing of two people involved in the murder of another Gold Coast police officer, Damian Leeding, shot in the head and killed in 2011 while trying to stop an armed robbery at the Pacific Pines Tavern.

Sergeant Hamrey was discharged from hospital this morning with a patch covering his left cheek.

'Enough is enough': Queensland AG

On Saturday, Mr Bleijie said the government had run out of patience with bikie gangs and violent offenders in the state's southeast.

"Today is the day that we are saying enough's enough," he said.

"The Government is drawing a line in the sand and saying to outlaw motorcycle gangs, and those engaged in criminal enterprise in Queensland: you have had your day."

Police have increased patrols in the area and have promised there will be zero tolerance of violent crimes.

Queensland Police Minister Jack Dempsey says police are sending a clear message to perpetrators.

"[They] have two choices ... change their behaviour or go to jail," he said.

Police will be knocking on their door, police will be stopping them on the sides of the roads and pulling them out of their vehicles and stopping their bikes ... They will not be able to bring pain and suffering to the streets. Queensland Police Minister Jack Dempsey

"These people who want to bring violence, drugs and guns onto the streets of Queensland and particularly in the Gold Coast area have no more choices.

"From now on police will be knocking on their door, police will be stopping them on the sides of the roads and pulling them out of their vehicles and stopping their bikes.

"Police will now be ensuring that they will not be able to bring pain and suffering to the streets of the Gold Coast."

Mr Dempsey said police had previously made a commitment to facilitate more than 100 officers over the next four years to the Gold Coast.

"We have actually delivered 137 police officers in the last 12 months," he said.

"We have ensured that the police helicopter is permanently stationed at the Gold Coast."

Mr Dempsey said he has directed Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart to immediately respond by using whatever resources he has.

Commissioner Stewart says he will not tolerate people who act as though they are above the law.

"Any person who is intent on violence against another in this state will be targeted even more heavily from this point on than has previously been," he said.

Any person who is intent on violence against another in this state will be targeted even more heavily from this point on ... As of right this afternoon, we will have extra police on the Gold Coast. Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart

"As of right this afternoon, we will have extra police on the Gold Coast.

"There are times - and last night was a classic example - where out of the blue you get a group of people intent on committing crime and being violent, intimidating not only the general public but intimidating the police of this state. That is unacceptable and we will go after those people hard from this point."

Commissioner Stewart said during the past year 724 people had been charged with over 1,000 offences relating to outlaw motorcycle gangs and violent behaviour.

"Police have been doing great work and they continue to do great work," he said.

"What we are doing is ... sending a clear message, either behave or you'll be gone from the streets of the Gold Coast."

Topics: crime, crime-prevention, law-crime-and-justice, police, southport-4215, qld, australia

First posted