Pubdate: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 Source: Dominion Post, The (New Zealand) Copyright: 2007 The Dominion Post Contact: http://www.dompost.co.nz Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2550 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) SIS GANGING UP ON ORGANISED CRIME At first glance the Security Intelligence Service's pitch for a role in fighting organised crime looks like an exercise in self-justification, writes The Dominion Post. With the Cold War behind us and no evidence, to date, of Islamic terrorists operating on New Zealand's shores, the country's top spy agency needs something to do. New Zealand already has an agency devoted to fighting crime - the police. However, as Police Association president Greg O'Connor has repeatedly warned, gangs - the main source of organised crime in New Zealand - are growing in influence and power, not losing it. Gangs are not as visible as they were in the 1970s and 80s when stoushes between the Mongrel Mob, Black Power, the Headhunters and others were a staple of news reports. But gangs have not gone out of business. They have gone into business - the drug business. According to Mr O'Connor, the profits are so lucrative, particularly from the "P" - pure methamphetamine - trade that gangs now discipline themselves to avoid calling attention to their activities. The drive-by shooting of Wanganui toddler Jhia Te Tua in May, for which 12 Mongrel Mob members have been charged, was the exception rather than the rule. However, while gangs are less visible than they once were, the problems caused by them are not. We read about them every day in the court reports dealing with those who have committed crimes to support drug habits. They show that more has to be done to stop serious drug use becoming entrenched in New Zealand. But whether the problem is best tackled by extending the SIS brief or the creation of Mr O'Connor's baby - a national investigative body within the police charged with waging war on gangs - is a moot point. SIS director Warren Tucker made his pitch for an extended role in a speech to a closed session of an intelligence seminar. He said he wanted his agency's brief broadened to include countering serious organised crime, particularly serious transnational crime. Unsurprisingly, he did not spell out what the SIS could do that the police cannot. Such a move would raise a number of serious issues. Unlike the police, the SIS operates with minimal scrutiny. It answers only to the minister in charge of the SIS, invariably the prime minister, and is scrutinised only by the inspector-general of intelligence and security and a multi-party committee of senior MPs that meets behind closed doors. It has a culture that is very different to the police. For the police, the objective of an investigation is usually a conviction. They need evidence that will stand up in court. For spies, the purpose of an investigation is usually to gather information. Putting it before a court would compromise their ability to perform future duties. And extending the SIS responsibilities to include crime fighting could blur the lines of accountability that currently make the police commissioner responsible for the maintenance of law and order. But, if the SIS has surveillance techniques or informants who could make a real difference to the battle against organised crime, Mr Tucker's pitch deserves serious consideration. At present gangs are becoming more embedded in society. The evil done by the drugs trade only grows. Authorities cannot stand idly by while more and more lives are destroyed. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake