we will not travel the road to anarchy

http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1292&storyid=2737392

We will not travel the road to anarchy
Piers Akerman

March 1, 2005

NO MATTER how many wreaths are laid on Eucalyptus Drive, Macquarie Fields, or how many rocks and molotov cocktails are thrown, there is one indisputable truth.


Dyllan Rayward, 17, and Matthew Robertson, 19, were killed last Friday night because they were in a stolen car.

Had they not chosen to go joyriding, had they not chosen to engage in criminal activity, they would still be alive today.


The deaths of these two thrill-seekers are regrettable but they must not rest heavily on the consciences of the police involved in the pursuit of the stolen car the young men were travelling in when it hit a tree.


Those officers were carrying out their duty and deserve public support and sympathy.


The driver, who fled, and the criminal rioters who have been exploiting the deaths of Mr Rayward and Mr Robertson are hardly showing their dead mates much respect.


The driver's identity seems to be known to all – it has even been claimed that he was among the rock-throwers – but the police seem to have adopted a cautious approach.


The masked rioters who took to the streets need to be identified and brought to justice.


Their copycat violence echoes the idiotic behaviour in Redfern a year ago after the death of 17-year-old Thomas "TJ" Hickey, who was impaled on a fence as he fled a police presence on his bicycle.


Sydney is a huge and sprawling city. There is a risk – because of the pandering attitude of public officials such as Lord Mayor Clover Moore – that anti-social elements now believe they have some sort of right to break laws against theft, squatting and public misbehaviour, particularly if they come from a deprived background.


Macquarie Fields was designed to house low-income public tenants by the social engineers of three decades ago.


They clearly failed and their failure should be recognised.


That the estate is undoubtedly a disadvantaged neighbourhood does not however excuse the car thieves or the rioters. What is disadvantage in our society today would be considered privilege in many other societies.


Talkback radio was jammed yesterday with callers from the Macquarie Fields area advancing bizarre theories about the police chase.


Among the earliest was the claim the police car shunted the stolen vehicle during the less than 60-second pursuit, causing it to crash into the tree. There appears to be absolutely no truth to this whatsoever.


Police Superintendent John Sweeney said the rumour was "offensive" and he is correct.


He said there was "not one scratch" on the police car and that "to shunt a vehicle at speed it would have to show some clear evidence of damage."


Superintendent Sweeney has also rejected suggestions the rioting on Sunday night was sparked by police breaking up a peaceful vigil by young people who merely wanted to mourn the death of their friends.


"That's nonsense," he told the Nine Network. "We moved up around a street – it was well and truly away from the site of the incident – and they were the ones that engaged police as we came into the area."


Like the talkback listeners, the rioters may have little or no real idea what exactly happened during the incident but unlike the radio audience, they have chosen to take the law into their own hands and they must be punished for their illegal behaviour.


The majority of Sydney's residents are honest and law-abiding. Respect for the law is central to the society we enjoy.


The dead men and the driver of their stolen car chose to take their chances outside the social and legal guidelines. The deaths will be dealt with under the law and in time the driver of the stolen vehicle will also be dealt with under the law, all at a cost to the community.


Three police officers were injured during Sunday night's confrontation with the mob and they will need treatment and probably some leave, another bill for the community.


Then it will be the turn of the rioters. When the ringleaders are arrested and charged, as they will be, there is little doubt that some of them will be represented by legal aid lawyers, at a cost to the community.


Some are saying stolen cars shouldn't be pursued but that's a no-brainer. Were that strategy be adopted, every criminal in the state would simply commandeer a car in the sure knowledge that there could not be a pursuit. Certain crimes cannot be given protection from the law.


The number of police pursuits – and potential deaths during such pursuits – might be reduced if there were a specific crime dealing with evading police pursuit that carried an additional penalty.


The butcher's bill for this incident was avoidable. The choice lay with the dead. Those who feel they might joyride in the future should take note.


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