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Mark Hinchliffe·
Motorbike news
··6 Comments·1 min read

Police PR blitz on VLAD Act

VLAD Act Vlad laws

Queensland Police have been visiting social motorcycle clubs to explain the VLAD Act and placate riders in a statewide PR blitz.

We caught up with the police in Townsville on a recent ride to the HOG Rally in Cairns and they confirmed they had been visiting riding clubs. It’s part of a statewide PR blitz and tomorrow night Detective Inspector Brendon Smith of anti-bikie task force Maxima will talk to the members of the Velocette Owners Club in Milton, Brisbane.cops

He is expected to discuss police operations targeting declared criminal motorcycle clubs, implementation of anti-association laws and coverage of the VLAD Act.

The police PR blitz follows several claims of over-zealous police harassing innocent riders.

Police in Townsville admitted that there was some early confusion among police and that they had since been better educated to identify members of motorcycle clubs that the state government arbitrarily declared to be criminal in the VLAD Act.

In an effort to determine whether riders are still being erroneously detained by police, Travis Windsor, founder of the Australian Motorcycle Business Chamber, has organised a “Behind the VLAD Laws” event. He says a venue has not yet been arranged, but it would be held in Logan or Brisbane South on June 25.

Speakers will include Travis, Motorcyclists Australia Party founder Paul Keyworth, a representative of the People Against Anti-Association Laws Facebook page, Smithy from the Yandina 5 and possibly independent MP Peter Wellington. An affected motorcycle business will also be invited.

“We are looking at the event being not so much a protest as a reflection on how people were affected by the laws and what they did,” Travis says.

The event will also raise money for Motor Neurone Disease and tickets will cost $20. More details to come.

 

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6 Comments

  1. So do we have any stats for how many riders have been ‘harassed’ since the introduction of the laws?
    I’m still waiting for it to happen to either myself or anyone I know.

  2. task force hydra has been going since 2006. 8 years thats plenty of
    time to know every member and associate of omc’s where they live and
    what they drive/ride.
    The whole harassment thing has been both unecessary and political
    and was going on to some extent before the introduction of the vlad act.
    newman and his redneck mates have chosen to vilify a wide and diverse group
    of people ,in the hope that when your average punter sees some rider on the side
    of the road getting his tattoos photographed. they will applaud him as being tough
    on crime, no matter that its a dentist from redcliffe out for a sunday ride
    So now they are in damage control.

  3. I get the feeling that a lot of the police overreaction was fairly(?) limited to a few incidents or relatively few individuals – those got into the grapevine and grew, at the same time the police hierarchy are saying “it’s not happening”. Guaranteed to make the story bigger.

    At the same time you have junior cops being warned about violent bikies, senior police asking for wider issue of high-powered rifles and ballistic vests and for police to be able to take their weapons home with them for protection.

    I’m not surprised that a few cops spooked and overreacted when they saw accountants on Harleys. Maybe that was the reaction they wanted.

    So now police are conducting a charm offensive to “social riding groups” to try to mend the fences that should not have been kicked down in the first place.

    What about the rest of us that aren’t closely linked to groups or clubs, don’t go to meetings and are only loosely associated with any group?

  4. I have attended one of these meetings with Maxima, and I can see how uneducated people might believe the spin. Unfortunately for QPS and Newman, I have seen enough first hand to be able to debunk several of their claims (which only leads to disbelief of their other claims). They constantly say that no one will be arrested unless they commit a crime, I’m sorry, but that simply isn’t how the legal system works – you get arrested when you are SUSPECTED of committing a crime, and they believe they have enough evidence to convict you – it is little “slips” like this that they use in an attempt to reinforce the notion that anyone who has been arrested is a criminal, and not the reality that at the absolute most, they are a suspect. If these laws are so effective, why is the “bikie jail” empty? Why are they claiming such a high number of bikies have been arrested, if no one is in jail? As far as I am concerned, if so many people are being arrested, but none are being convicted, that is a simple case of harassment, discrimination and attempted intimidation. I know for a fact that many of the stories reported in the mainstream media bare very little resemblance to reality, and are blatant spin articles designed to convince the public that bikies are criminals and they are all being locked up. You can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people even some of the time – times have changed.

  5. Trouble is confusion reigns supreme new government threatened police with job dismissals in October last year if they did not carry out their bidding. Also probably a lack of training for those out pulling people over. Its good to see at least some is trying to mend fences. Yes I got pulled over once that was for an RBT and I followed a cage in. Female officer was pleasant and I had no problems.

  6. I’ve never in my life been affiliated or even ridden with an OMC or any kind of social riding club for that matter.. I have been pulled over, questioned for about 15 minutes and had notes and photo’s taken of my tattoos. My bike is the polar opposite to what a “bikie” would ride yet that still happened to me. The unfair treatment of riders is very much a real thing and due to this and the arrogance of the few police officers iv met has given me a very sour view on the QPS

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