CRIME WAVE GROWING

Chronicle (Levin), 12 July 1946, Page 5

CRIME WAVE GROWING

-Press Association

Armed Gangs In Sydney THUGGERY W0RST FEATURE

By Telegraph-

(Special Australian Correspondent.; Received Thursday, 7 p.m. ►SYDNEY, July 11. The wave or violent crime which has been sweeping Sydney I'or some weeks, now seems to be growing in intensity rather than abatmg. The worst feature of life in Sydney is the increase of hooliganisni and thuggery in tvhieh armed gangs of men seem to take a sadistic pleasure in inflicting heacl and facial injuries on tiieir victims. Assaults take plac-e usually late at night in suliurbs where people disembarking from ferry, bus or tram, have to run the gauntlet of darkened streets. Often the victim is asked for a mateh or cigarette and while he is groping in his ])oekets. is struck down. Two or more assailants tlien make sure hy kieking him about th e liead and jumping 011 liim so that he is unable to nvake efl'ective resistance to a tliorougli seareh. Taxidrivers, hy the natnre oi: their ealling, are particularly' easv tnarks for bashers. Not a night has passcd this week withont oue or more taxidrivers being assaulted. By law a taxidrivpr cannot refuse a faro hut the situation is so serious that already the Road Transport Workers ' rnion is jireparing to ask the Minister iif Transport, Mr. O'Sullivan, that 1 rivers sliould he ]iennitted to choose ]iassengers. This requesf will probahly !)(» refused by the Govprniuent as it would he linhle to ahuse. An alternative ])ro]tosal is that special steel grilles sliould be fitted to ta.xis hetween the driver and his fare. This would alford the driver some protection even tliough a number of holdups reccntly reported have heen carried out hy men anned with autoniatic weapons. Assaults on women either for rob'bery or sex motives, are also common. A Sydney shopkeeper is doing a roaring trade in leather-covered waddies designed to he carried in handbags. A number of women interviewecl recently, all of whom live in large suburbs close to the city, admit carrying weapons such as ice picks, heavy scissors and flies, for personal protection. The Dailv Express carrles articles and illust ra t iona showing how to deal ! with a tliug wlien attacked. j The commentary of a tram driver on , the Bondi run is signilicant. "O11 late j trips there is an air of tension afitongj th » passengers as soon as we leave the j city." he said. "Girls and voung women liave develojjed a teehnique. Wlien we are near a stop they start jockeying for position and as the tram slows down they hit the ground running and never slow up until they are inside their own gates. " The police force, whieh was depleted during the war, is building up to full strength and street patrols are being increased daily. Housebreaking constitutcs such a threat to homes in some suhurhs that householders are clubbing togetlier to pav a wateliman to patrol their streets at night. The official opinion is that Sydney is ]iassing through a period of violence which follows wars and civil disturbances hut it is a poor advertisement for Australian methods of control that crime continues witliout visible clieck.