Ken ‘Slasher’ McKay says ethnic crime squads not racist

A former top cop who spearheaded Asian and Middle Eastern organised crime squads has denied they were in any way racist, saying the two communities were their strongest supporters. LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Creating police strike forces on ethnic lines was not racist and was strongly supported by those communities being targeted, says former NSW Police assistant commissioner Ken McKay.

McKay, who retired in 2013 after 37 years in the force working mostly in the organised crime division, caused controversy when he created squads to target both Middle Eastern and Asian crime gangs.

At the time the move was decried as not politically correct and bordering on racism, but he argues not only was it right then, but it would be right now.

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“The greatest fans of the Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad were the Middle Eastern people,” he told True Crime Australia.

The then director of NSW Organised Crime, Detective Chief Superintendent Ken McKay, addresses the media. Picture: Ross Schultz

“You know I speak to them all the time, and I grew up in the area, and they think it was the best thing since sliced bread. One of the things ethnically-based criminals do first is to target their own race, their own people. They target anyone, especially the ones that have got some money, who have been successful.”

He said both the Asian and Middle Eastern communities supported the squads because the criminals were standing over their businesses — for the Asians in Cabramatta and Fairfield and for the Middle East community in Sydney’s west — demanding protection money and also dealing drugs to their children.

They also hated having their reputations tarnished by a small group of criminals, he said.

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Ken McKay at the recording of Police Tape. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

“We were often branded as being racists, which you could not be any further from the truth,” McKay said. “We had to actually really understand the community before we (could) actually understand the criminality of it.’’

While he wouldn’t be drawn into saying the squads should be reformed, he did warn that such criminal gangs had to be watched continually.

“Yeah, I think the NSW Police Force is very well set up … but somehow you’ve got to maintain your focus on the already identified crime gangs, because if you take your eye off them they’ll be like the lawn … that grows and you’ll be up to your knees in it in no time.”

McKay was the first boss of the Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad (MEOCS), which he said was born out of the Cronulla riots of 2005 even though they had nothing to do with organised crime.

The Cronulla riots shocked Australia, but gave impetus to the police push for a Middle Eastern crime squad. Picture: Gary Ramage

“We suggested to the police over a number of years prior to MEOCS (being formed) that we needed a purpose-built focus on Middle Eastern criminals operating, and it goes back to … a number of criminal acts occurring in the Bankstown-Punchbowl area in Sydney’s west,’’ he said.

“So we were actually pushing for a group, but it was pretty much the Cronulla riots when it twigged with someone, and they (the police hierarchy) finally came to their senses and said, ‘We need to deal with these Middle Eastern criminals’, and so MEOCS was formed out of that.”

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Originally published as Ken ‘Slasher’ McKay says ethnic crime squads not racist