Tattoo licences, scrap metal: New laws crack down on crims’ cash

NSW gang members will be hit with a blanket ban from holding tattoo licences, while suspected crooks will also be forbidden from owning encrypted phones under new laws. Find out when they come into effect.

Gang members will be hit with a blanket ban from holding tattoo licences, while suspected crooks will also be forbidden from owning encrypted phones as part of a raft of new laws aimed at curbing gangland violence.

The changes, effective on Wednesday, will also give police greater powers to confiscate convicted drug dealers’ assets.

Premier Dominic Perrottet said the new laws would give cops a new edge in tackling crime across the NSW.

“These tough new laws will put organised criminals and their affiliates across NSW on notice that we will use every possible tool at our disposal to bring them down,” Mr Perrottet said.

Deputy Premier and Police Minister Paul Toole said the new rules meant “organised criminals will sleep with one eye open”.

Raptor police in a tattoo parlour last year.

“The state’s toughest ever organised crime laws are now in effect, putting our police in the strongest position yet to cut organised criminals off at the source, and incapacitate them financially,” he said.

The reforms include greater power to seize unexplained wealth if tax returns do not tally with what police find.

New laws will make it harder for scrap metal dealers to pay criminal cash for stolen property. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Police will also be able to direct a person to provide access to a digital device such as a phone or laptop.

Other ways to crack down on crime include new laws in the scrap metal industry, strengthening registration requirements to make it harder for dealers to pay criminals cash for stolen property.

Police Commissioner Karen Webb.

Premier Dominic Perrottet.

The government will also usher in new laws making it ­illegal for members of a criminal organisation to hold a tattoo licence.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the reforms ensured cops would be able to crack more complex technology and money-laundering being used by crooks.

“As organised criminal networks resort to using more sophisticated methods of operating, NSW Police is dedicated to fighting crime on the same level,” she said.