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NSW Police super taskforce to tackle escalating gang violence in Sydney

NSW Police super taskforce to tackle escalating gang violence in Sydney

News.com.au27-05-2025
A new police super taskforce will combat escalating gang violence across Sydney after two men were shot in broad daylight in the city's west.
The two men were rushed to hospital after they were found in a car in Parramatta on Sunday afternoon.
Taskforce Falcon will be led by the State Crime Command and will investigate shootings, arson attacks and kidnappings dating back to December 2024.
The taskforce will absorb 13 underworld strike forces set up to investigate gang violence.
NSW Police Deputy Police Commissioner said Taskforce Falcon would be manned by 150 officers as well as an additional 90 staff, including a 'proactive' arm.
'(That) will be involved in suppression activities to ensure that recent violence that we've seen on the streets of Sydney over the past six months does not escalate into anything more horrific,' Mr Hudson said.
The officers will be pooled from across the force, including the specialist squads attached to the State Crime Command, as well as the NSW Crime Commission, and will be overseen by Detective Superintendent Jason Box.
NSW Police and Counter-Terrorism Minister Yasmin Catley MP said the 'recent violence on our streets is horrific' and vowed to apprehend those responsible.
'We won't tolerate these lawless thugs playing out their vendettas in our communities,' she said.
'When innocent people get caught up in them and are made to suffer it's sickening and barbaric.
'We all have the right to live our lives in our communities safe from these brazen criminals.
'Today we announce NSWPF are standing up Taskforce Falcon to deal with these murderous swine.
'The message is crystal clear. To those contemplating taking part in this vicious criminality, our police are coming to get you.
'You can look forward to spending a large chunk of your life in a small cell.'
The taskforce will bring together, among other investigations, probes into six separate public place shootings, mostly in western Sydney.
It will also oversee investigations into the alleged shooting murder of a 31-year-old in Canley Heights in December 2024 as well as the alleged shooting murder of a 23-year-old man in Condell Park on May 19, 2025.
Mr Hudson said part of the reason for establishing the taskforce was because of links already established by investigators between some of the alleged incidents.
The taskforce follows similar models used during Taskforce Magnus and Taskforce Erebus, which Mr Hudson said had suppressed previous 'conflicts within organised crime'.
'Since 2021, we have had 25 organised crime murders in the state of NSW. Twenty of those have been solved through investigations and the other five ongoing,' he said.
'Some of those investigations have involved the arrest of up to 30 people, not just because of committing the murder but people orchestrating the commissions of that murder.
Mr Hudson said police would 'leave no stone unturned' in the pursuit of people involved in organised crime incidents 'no matter whatever it involves'.
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