Operation Trident: NSW Police launch massive two-day metro crime crackdown
More than 250 police officers were deployed for a first of its kind 48-hour ‘no boundaries’ operation, flooding Sydney’s streets and laying 200 charges. Watch the video and see the pictures.
A state-first police blitz has been unleashed on some of Sydney’s most dangerous streets, with more than 250 officers swarming suburbs, train stations and shopping strips in a sweeping crackdown on alleged offenders of every kind.
Operation Trident will become the new normal for NSW Police, running every two months in the central, northwest and southwest metropolitan regions and targeting everything from domestic violence and youth crime, to gangs, drug dealers and illicit tobacco suppliers.
The Daily Telegraph joined cops on the beat for the first rollout of Operation Trident over the weekend, as officers were deployed from Mount Druitt to Mosman under the new “no boundaries” model.
In recent years, police have carried out “surges” on under-fire towns in the bush to combat youth crime waves.
Now the same tactic is being deployed in metropolitan Sydney, with intelligence crucially used to determine a list of targets before officers, plus specialists from the Dog Unit, Aviation Command, Water Police and Public Transport Command, are brought in.
Detective Superintendent Guy Magee said pooling resources and “surging together” was the focus of the operation, and that the northwest of Sydney was a natural launch pad.
“Mount Druitt has a reputation, it’s always been a tough place to police,” he said.
“For some of (the officers) it’s the first time working in Mount Druitt and the backstreets of Bidwill or Shalvey - probably the busiest command in the country, and they love it.
“When police from out of the area get the opportunity to come and … experience those new crime challenges, I think any true cop would only be excited.
“That’s why many of us joined. We love the challenge.”
Over the two days, stations overflowed with cars and crews as arrests stacked up - from drug busts and bikie raids, to vape seizures and assaults.
More than 200 charges were laid against 95 people, including 13 wanted on warrants and seven alleged high-risk domestic-violence offenders.
Officers carried out 2126 knife scans at transport hubs in Mount Druitt, Penrith, Parramatta, Hornsby, Manly and Blacktown.
A massive 88 bail checks on alleged domestic violence offenders and 104 ADVO compliance checks were carried out, while licensing officers ran 386 business inspections.
The Telegraph joined one Operation Trident team in Eastwood, where officers were probing a spate of vehicle thefts and frauds.
Shayne Egan, 48, was confronted in a garage, where police allegedly found methylamphetamine and heroin. Egan was charged with two counts of supplying a prohibited drug greater than 5g.
Minutes later, the Regional Enforcement Squad arrived, smashing the door of a unit in the same property, arresting Beau Wilcox, 24, for alleged drug possession, Alec White, 29, on property and fraud charges, and Mitchell Bell, 48, on dishonesty and weapons charges.
Later, police and NSW Health inspectors carried out a compliance check at Smokeey Tobacconist in Thornleigh, seizing 30 cartons of illicit cigarettes, vapes and cannabis. No charges have been laid, with investigations ongoing.
That evening, officers searched the Mount Druitt address of an alleged Bandidos bikie gang member who is subject to a firearms and weapons prohibition order. Police allegedly found zombie knives, an extendible baton, prescription pills and steroids. No charges have been laid.
At Mount Druitt Westfield, officers searched a 15-year-old boy — a known gang member allegedly linked to the RFA street crew — for weapons.
Det Supt Magee said violent repeat offenders were a key focus of the operation.
“We know who they are, the ones arming themselves with guns and knives, and we’ll keep knocking on their doors,” he said.
“The big targets for us are domestic violence, knife and youth gang crime and offenders breaking into homes at night with machetes and firearms.
“We’re not giving them room to breathe.”
At Rooty Hill’s Lone Pine Tavern, a police dog detected Thomas Spratt, 28, allegedly with methylamphetamine and cash.
He was charged with supplying and possessing drugs and dealing with proceeds of crime.
In Lethbridge Park, police arrested brothers Steven McDougall, 25, and Aaron McDougall, 34, after a man was allegedly attacked with a wooden bar inside a unit.
Steven allegedly spat on officers and was charged with assaulting police and common assault, while Aaron was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and resisting arrest.
North West Assistant Commissioner Gavin Wood said the operation showed what policing looked like when the whole force pulled in one direction.
“There are no limits to where we go, what we do or the capability we deploy,” he said.
At NSW Police headquarters in Parramatta on Monday, Wood said the community response had been overwhelmingly positive.
“Everywhere we went on the weekend, for the community, for business, we were welcomed with open arms. Business owners, community residents were coming out, aknowledging our presence and thanking us for what we do,” he said.
“As a Police commander, that makes me very proud... that’s what policing is about, working hand-in-hand. Everything we do is about the welfare and safety of the community... it makes you proud to be a police officer, it really does.”
The assistant commissioner also stressed that while high-profile, high-visibilty surge operations in particular regions would continue to be “paramount” to operating strategy, they wouldn’t result in other regions being under-served during those periods.
“The response capability of each Police Area Command will never be compromised for the sake of an operation. It was business as usual at the Southwest and Central Met (area commands),” he said.
“I think high visibility policing is always going to be paramount, always at the back of our mind. We went with numbers, and the numbers were good. They were visible in the right locations, at the right times.”
Do you have a story for The Daily Telegraph? Message 0481 056 618 or email tips@dailytelegraph.com.au
More Coverage
Originally published as Operation Trident: NSW Police launch massive two-day metro crime crackdown
