Nicola Cotton was murdered while going about her duty. For some unknown reason, Nicola was tasked to arrest a suspected rapist, alone and unassisted. The suspect got into a fight with Nicola, drew Nicola's sidearm while she was radioing for back up. Nicola was then murdered with her own weapon. Her killer waited for more police to arrive, and was arrested without further incident. Nicola was praised by her superiors for her actions.
The killing of Nicola is a scene from a wider issue. There is a disconnect between police and the public, some of whom no longer view the police as human.
In Australia, assaults on police, and their integrity, are routine. Some riots have been blamed on police actions, including the 2004 Redfern riots and the 2005 Macquarie Fields riots.
It still is an issue, as Victorians have recently shown us.
A documentary on Nicola cotton is being compiled
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More of that gang violence police can’t pronounce
Andrew Bolt
I might have mentioned before we have an alarming problem with gangs. Now this:
A TEEN bashed with a tomahawk was fighting for his life last night as youths warned of a Cronulla-type gang explosion in Melbourne.
Sunshine Hospital was forced to call police and shut its emergency department as about 100 youths descended, angered by the brutal attack on their friend.
In another unprecedented escalation of gang violence, a molotov cocktail was hurled on a suburban train last week.
First step in dealing with this problem is to admit we have one. But to reprise a conversation between Chief Commission Christine Nixon and 3AW’s Neil Mitchell:
Nixon: What we saw in that more recent incident was one of two gangs, which I gather was around two women, which started fighting.
Mitchell: But gangs are an issue.
Nixon: Well, we’re seeing some groups of people. I’m not describing them as gangs.
Mitchell: Well, you just did.
Nixon: Well, you know what I mean.
Mitchell: I thought the word gang was banned by your media people.
Nixon: Well, it is . . . it’s got connotations . . . These are groups of people who come together and just cause problems together.
Let’s face some facts. Respect for authority has crumbled, as the confidence of that authority has waned. A culture of aggressive disrespect is celebrated in film, song and video games. Victimology is now institutionalised. Families have crumbled, producing many more unsocialised youths. The cult of the tribe has grown, producing more people than ever who define their identity against the majority. And there’s the drink and the drugs…
Youth gangs menace inner-city
By Liam Houlihan and Kellie Cameron
A TEEN bashed with a tomahawk was fighting for his life last night as youths warned of a Cronulla-type gang explosion in Melbourne.
Sunshine Hospital was forced to call police and shut its emergency department as about 100 youths descended, angered by the brutal attack on their friend.
In another unprecedented escalation of gang violence, a molotov cocktail was hurled on a suburban train last week.
More attacks were pledged as part of a bitter conflict between two of Melbourne's biggest gangs that has seen 10 youth stabbings.
Police are demanding measures to stem the growing scourge of youth gang activity.
They want a Youth Crime Taskforce established, new anti-assembly powers to break up loitering crowds of teens and portable knife scanners.
Shopping centres and rail operators were changing their operations to cope with the rising gang challenge.
Cowardly, excessive gang attacks 'for fun'
Four men were charged with attempted murder and serious assaults last night over the savage attack on the 17-year-old on Friday.
The teenager's family was keeping a vigil after he and four friends were "pulverised" in the St Albans attack.
Their assailants - one 16 - used a tomahawk, baseball bats and hockey sticks in an orgy of violence, destroying their car and hospitalising the five men.
One of the teens caught in the attack said the violent onslaught had been triggered by them being on someone else's turf.
The teen, who would not give his name, had facial bruising and injured ribs and described the attack as ruthless and against innocent victims.
As well as being territorial, he said the attack was carried out for fun.
Police, social workers and even gang members said gang violence was flaring across Melbourne's suburbs.
The Police Association - representing 11,000 officers - said the youth gang crisis demanded a regional taskforce on youth crime and anti-assembly powers.
"They're under-18 and they're coming in from the outer suburbs and causing mayhem in the city and the inner suburbs," assistant secretary Bruce McKenzie said.
"This is happening. And we do know it's of considerable concern to our members."
The association was expected to lobby Premier John Brumby for anti-assembly powers to break up big groups of teens and expressed a desire for British-style portable walk-through metal scanners.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Emmett Dunne said operations in Noble Park and Springvale had successfully combated crime at railway stations and shopping centres.
"We're monitoring the situation over time. We're getting intelligence reports all the time," he said.
"Seventeen to 19 is a period of transition in people's lives and ... they test the boundaries."
Insulting rap song inflames rivalry
In an escalating stoush between two of the city's biggest gangs, an Arab coalition from Melbourne's north was seething over a rap song released by enemy gang South-East Boys, threatening "another Cronulla".
The song, Lullaby, derides the Dandenong gang's Arab enemies as "pussies" and threatens a local Cronulla-style race clash.
Gang members said the rivalry between the north and south gangs had already led to 10 stabbings.
"Give it tomorrow, give it a year. We will hit back 10 times harder," said Ronni, leader of northern gang ASAD or Arabian Soldiers Arab Defenders.
Gang members are aged 17 to 26 and brawl with machetes, bottles, poles, knuckle-dusters and knives.
The North-West Boys, who have a distinct double-fist handshake, are made up of gangs including ASAD, which has spread from Newport, and The Clan.
The North-West Boys said their opposing gang, based around Dandenong, was a mix of white "Aussie bogans", Sudanese, Afghans, Italians and Greeks.
"We were hunting them for almost seven hours," The Clan leader Hash said.
"If the South-East want war, then so be it."
The gangs have sophisticated fight strategies and youths are attacked if they stray into another gang's side of the city.
"Something in the future is going to happen to them," Ronni said.
Hash said they tried to isolate their activities so members of the public would not get hurt.
Spokeswoman Merline McGregor said Highpoint shopping centre - the scene of recent gang conflicts - was working with police and social workers to develop a code of conduct for young people.
"We undertake a number of initiatives to mitigate possible anti-social behaviour," she said.
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