Major report recommends help for bikies who want to quit gang life

A major report says bikies who quit their gang should be helped by authorities, while another reveals gangs are recruiting younger and more violent members.

Former Finks MC members Matt and Tyson Ward. Picture: Matt Turner.

Bikies who quit their gang should be provided with assistance, including the removal of tattoos and, if needed, protection, according to a major report.

The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) report recommends authorities adopt a Danish program, which also provides housing, employment and education support, drug rehabilitation and other therapeutic interventions to former bikies.

Conducted jointly by the AIC’s Serious and Organised Crime Research Laboratory and Queensland Police, the report findings are based on 39 interviews with former gang members in Queensland. A second report, compiled from the same interviews, found bikie gangs were recruiting increasingly violent, criminally inclined new members only interested in making money.

That had influenced many senior members in their decision to quit their respective gangs.

Former Adelaide bikie Matt Ward, who was a high-ranking Mongols member with brother Tyson before both left the gang, said much of the assistance in the Danish program “had merit”.

“It would help … certainly it would help to offer some of those things,” Mr Ward said.

“Employment is a problem if you have a criminal record and that then turns into a housing problem because you can’t afford to pay your mortgage.”

Former Adelaide bikie Matt Ward, who was a high-ranking Mongols member with brother Tyson before both left the gang, said much of the assistance in the Danish program “had merit”. Picture: Matt Turner

However, he firmly rejected the suggestion that ex-gang members should be provided protection, saying he “would never want or accept it”.

Mr Ward said “everything changes on its head” when a member quit and lost the support of fellow gang members and, in some cases, when the money that flowed from criminal activity stopped.

“If you decide to leave that criminal lifestyle, you are going from money to the dole,” he said.

“You have nothing and the lure of going back to criminal activity again is huge because you are struggling.”

The interviews with the ex-bikies explored changes in recruitment and how clubs were managed, relationships experienced and observed while they were members and the impacts on them after they left the gang.

AIC deputy director Rick Brown said the findings revealed insights into the changing nature of outlaw motorcycle gangs, their effects on members and the consequences for leaving a gang.

“This study has provided first hand insights from former members that show how some clubs are changing,” Dr Brown said.

“They described how their former clubs were recruiting younger men who are more prone to violence, attracted by the gangster image, and who are looking to join clubs to get rich quick.”

Detective Acting Chief Superintendent Roger Lowes, of Queensland Police Crime and Intelligence Command, said the joint research partnership exposed the truth of gang membership.

“This pioneering research provides unparalleled insights from ex-gang members, many of who regret their decision to join a gang and now live with the consequences of their decisions,” he said.

“It is hoped the research and the personal accounts will inform and influence prospective members.”