Labor's criminal response
By Dave Wright
SYDNEY — In a very heavy-handed response to crime in the western suburbs, one ALP parliamentarian seems to want to outdo the Los Angeles Police Department.
In a glossy newsletter distributed to all households in the Cabramatta electorate, Labor MLA Reba Meagher outlines a number of ways of solving the crime problem.
With sections headed, "Getting tough on gangs" and "It's war on drugs", she commits a Labor government to: increase police numbers and powers drastically; mandatory life sentences for people caught dealing hard drugs; police to target schools and nearby areas in their anti-drug actions; create a "Gang Control Intelligence Unit" which will use a computer database to monitor gang members and their activities; establish an "expert" gang control unit in Cabramatta; use police anti-gang teams to patrol known "hot-spots" and break up gangs; and ensure that police work with schools, railway staff, hotel owners and shopkeepers to collect information about gangs.