Police Tape Blue Sirens: Deborah Wallace made life hell for bikies
In her 36 years on the force, Detective Superintendent Deborah Wallace has taken on bikie, Middle Eastern and Asian gangs, earning herself the nickname ‘gang buster’. Now she reveals in our new podcast how she stared down a bikie boss and won. LISTEN TO THE FIRST EPISODE.
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In her trademark colourful suits and high heels Detective Superintendent Deborah Wallace has been law enforcement’s not-so-secret-weapon.
She is a striking figure who has cut her way through the criminal underworld of hunting down some of the state’s most dangerous gangs.
She has faced murderers, drug manufacturers and organised crime groups.
LISTEN TO EPISODE ONE
Detective Superintendent Deb Wallace has spoken out about her the time at the head of the NSW police Strike Force Raptor and the Middle Eastern Organized Crime Squad (MEOCS) in the new Police Tape series, Blue Sirens.
The podcast series talks to five policewomen around the country including detectives who worked on Melbourne’s gangland murders, Australia’s first woman bomb squad technician, a Deputy Commissioner and an FBI-trained criminal profiler.
In her 36-year career, Det Superintendent Wallace has been the Commander of the Asian Organized Crime Squad, the boss of the Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad, and now is the commander of the combined State Crime Command Gang Squad. She is the first police woman to hold every one of those positions.
She has been referred to as the “gang buster” and together with Strike Force Raptor, has earned the reputation of the cop who made bikies cry with frustration.
Her job has been to debunk the romance around the bikie culture, saying they are just a bunch of blokes in fancy dress.
“I have seen bikies sitting in the dock and saying “I’ve had enough. This is not what I thought it would be. It’s not glamorous, it’s not fun, and they would literally volunteer and bring their colours to the police station and say I’ve had enough.”
She revealed that unlike the past when it was once a bikie always a bikie, these days they can get out but they have to pay.
“As long as you pay the money. It is usually written into the bylaws, General rule is, in most groups you give up your bike … they have to surrender their colours. They have to remove any sign of their resemblance to the gang. If they have 1 per cent on their body they have to cover that up. They have to cover the name of the gang. And they have to pay $10,000. So that’s where the money comes in.”
Det Superintendent Wallace said the Middle Eastern crime gangs were different to the Asian gangs, which were based along ethnic lines, and different again to the motorcycle gangs – who attract anyone who will do their bidding.
Middle Eastern crime gangs, she said, tended to be along family lines with young family members following in the footsteps of misguided role models.
“They loved the bling … the body image … they were always buffed and muscle bound …. And had flash cars … one had it (MEOCS) as a number plate on his flash Lamborghini”.
One, was so obsessed, that he wanted to drop his pants and his flash the tattoos of the MEOCS cars he had on his thigh to Det Superintendent Wallace when she was on patrol with her troops in a MEOCS-badged highway patrol cars.
She laughing agreed but warned him, MEOCS replaced their cars every three months s-o if he persisted in getting a tattoo for every car, he would soon run out of body parts.
She said they both had a laugh about it, and she realised it was as though “they admired us”.
The cop who made the bikies cry
They were the two ultimate arch enemies, the senior Nomad bikie and the top cop running Strike Force Raptor – set up to make life hell for all the bikies.
But behind the scenes, there was some cheeky banter on social media from the then Nomads bikie, Moudi Tajjour, suggesting Deborah Wallace was secretly infatuated with him.
“Deb Wallace, I think you are in love with me, because you seem to be obsessed with me by having Raptor pay me all this attention,” one of his media posts suggested. He then followed up with a not so flattering remark about her appearance.
When the cops on Strike Force Raptor saw the posts about their boss, they stepped up what they called “consequence-based policing” style with relentless attention on the Nomads, including numerous raids.
About a month later, the senior Nomad, who has now since retired, posted on social media again saying something like “Deb Wallace I’d like to sincerely apologise to you for being disrespectful to you and being insulting. “We’re even now, so can you tell Raptor to back off?”
“Interesting, about three months later, I was walking in Merrylands and he was there, with some friends, and he spotted me and he said “Deb, look I really need to apologise in person about what I said. I didn’t mean it, I was just frustrated, I was just angry, so please accept my apologies and can I buy you a cup of coffee?” she said.
But Det Superintendent Wallace declined saying Raptor were nearby and if I’m seen sitting having coffee, I could get booked for consorting.” And he just looked at me like, drats and walked off.
“I don’t know that he cried, but he was certainly frustrated,” said Det Superintendent Wallace.
To listen to Police Tape Blue Sirens go to truecrimeaustralia.com.au
CATCH UP ON SERIES POLICE TAPE: SERIES ONE
CLICK HERE: Detectives lift lid on nation’s most gripping cases in Police Tape podcast
Originally published as Police Tape Blue Sirens: Deborah Wallace made life hell for bikies
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