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. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake