Man seriously hurt during airport brawl (Sydney T3)

[Kendall Roy]

Man seriously hurt during airport brawl | smh.com.au
Gang war spreads to domestic airport | The Daily Telegraph

 

[moa999]

Ch 10 news.
Man bashed to death.
In late 20s, member of Hells Angels. Fight with Comencharos.
Using metal poles from the queue lines.
15 or 16 people involved.

 

[NYCguy]

Man bashed to death.
In late 20s, member of Hells Angels. Fight with Comencharos.
Using metal poles from the queue lines.
15 or 16 people involved.

Pure class...

 

[Skoogle]

I guess it is lucky to have happened at check-in, rather than in the air.

 

[Kendall Roy]

Pure class...

Exactly - not like the old days when a biff was one on one (not that i'm condoning either).

 

[Batesy]

I dropped mrs Batesy at T2 this afternoon. Traffic was a nightmare. No drop off at the normal T3 Qantas all traffic diverted, cabs dropping off at the downstairs arrivals for T3. Police tape, cops and cop cars everywhere.

 

[JohnK]

The approaches to the domestic terminals are chaotic, people walking everywhere instead of driving, with long delays and I finally managed to get to T3 around 30 minutes late. I did not know what was happening and I called QF to find out that my flight was delayed by 30 minutes. One of the only times that I have been happy that my flight was delayed.

There is no excuse for what happened today. I do not understand, cannot comperhend, why this sort of scum are allowed to live with the rest of us in our society. And no jail is not the solution either....

 

[PaulC83]

Such a horrible thing to have happen, I unfortunately have witnessed two quite bad assaults in my life time, one at the Adelaide Schutzenfest, where a man decided that looking at his girlfriend was an offence so proceeded to beat a man about the head with a glass stein (ended up with bad neck injuries, he got off on good behaviour), and the other was an altercation on the dance floor (bumped into each other and had a bit of biff, the man that was a fair bit older ended up in a coma and brain damage, charges were never laid!).

Just from those two offences and the outcomes of those I have no faith in our justice system. The problem in this case is how many people were involved, and without (and I hope they have some video footage!) the ability to identify who gave the death blow, they are likely to have downgraded charges if any at all (there was a prominent case in Adelaide where they were not able to work out which of the three people who bashed a man actually killed him, so they all got substantially less charges).

My fear is how this might affect our beloved flying in the long term. Will they now do without queue guides? will they now be fixed into the ground like the good old days of pubs chaining stools to the bar? Are we to suffer yet another "security check" before we get to "security"? Unfortunately I think we will be the ones that suffer in the end.

beyond comprehension.

 

[htchapman]

Me thinks there will be a lot of CCTV footage.

Not only of the brawl - but of the gang members waiting for the others at the gate.

Obviously a premeditated attack.

 

[Soundguy]

My fear is how this might affect our beloved flying in the long term.

Yeah, could get like some high risk countries where you are not allowed inside the terminal at all without a ticket.

No-one would mind these guys if they were just motorcycle enthusiasts or even if they had their own occasional private wars out in a remote desert somewhere. But it is the organised crime and violence and the involvement with the general public in the same which makes them obnoxious.

 

[Warks]

The only good, if you can call it good, thing about this is that we didn't have police and security pulling guns and firing on them. That's when innocent bystanders get killed. One side of me asks why security wasn't better and something done to stop it. The other says at least they kept it amongst themselves. That's not to say that a lot of people wouldn't be scarred for life mentally by what they witnessed. I read that small children were present. Horrible.

 

[Flashback]

I was watching Sunrise this morning before I headed into work; and could not believe the drivel I was hearing.. they were going on about how the airport is supposed to be one of the safest places in the country, why wasn't Security and the Police there quicker etc. IME Security does not stand around the checkin area, but is mainly located at the security checkpoint (surprise, surprise) and from there-on-in is where the 'most secure' part is.

 

[markis10]

I was watching Sunrise this morning before I headed into work; and could not believe the drivel I was hearing.. they were going on about how the airport is supposed to be one of the safest places in the country, why wasn't Security and the Police there quicker etc. IME Security does not stand around the checkin area, but is mainly located at the security checkpoint (surprise, surprise) and from there-on-in is where the 'most secure' part is.

The secondary T3 security screen point was not very far at all from the checkin, in fact to get to that area from the arrivals area would have meant going up the escalator adjacent to that screening station, IMHO its a good point!

 

[yo yo ma]

I was watching Sunrise this morning before I headed into work; and could not believe the drivel I was hearing.. they were going on about how the airport is supposed to be one of the safest places in the country, why wasn't Security and the Police there quicker etc. IME Security does not stand around the checkin area, but is mainly located at the security checkpoint (surprise, surprise) and from there-on-in is where the 'most secure' part is.

I agree... I am listening to 2GB at the moment and they are carrying on about how the police should have been there sooner.

I would like to see a timeline of how long they took to get there before laying any blame. Unless there is a police station at the airport, then it will take a few minutes for the police to arrive.

 

[Hvr]

"The first call went to triple-0 at 1.43 yesterday afternoon," he said.

"The first call to the airport police command came in at 1.46. And the first police responded at 1.47, one minute later.

"So in terms of response times, it's all within acceptable practice."

Mr Keelty said the airport had its full complement of police officers yesterday and there was no intelligence to suggest such an incident could have happened.

I am surprised the police actually had to receive a triple 0 call before attending.

Also, I am sure I read somewhere that if there is an emergency at the AP that police must attend within 45 seconds. So they were late on this occasion by those standards.

 

[Hvr]

45-second rule

But international security protocols state that security staff need to be able to get to all areas within 45 seconds, an international security expert said.
"If you can't achieve 45 seconds, there's almost no point even [monitoring the area]," said the expert, who did not wish to be named.
"Terrorist events, if they are going to occur, are going to occur with the speed and the violence that we saw yesterday.
"You don't have time to wait five minutes for a response team to get there."
It had amazed him that a violent brawl resulting in a man's death had occurred at Sydney Airport, presumed to be a relatively secure public area.
"However, I'm not surprised. Australia pays lip service to its security at airports," he said.

Knew I read it somewhere.

Even though this tragedy has nothing to do with AP security the shock jocks (think Neil Mitchell 3aw) are already whinging that security is way too slack and needs to be tightened. The way he was speaking this morning you would think he had never flown in his life.

Talking all sorts of rubbish about LAG controls and the such. Ignorant talk about things that are not part of AUS AP security and never have been. Still his core audience is what the Yanks call Ma and Pa Kettles so factual statements are not really required.

Whip up hysteria and then blame those he hates for not doing what he thinks is necassary. Cheap and nasty "journalism" that discredits real journalists who occasionally do a good job.

 

[drron]

This really does raise a whole lot of issues.Certainly if there was a terrorist attack on an airport you want a response well under 5 minutes and the 45 second rule did come from the security review of Sydney Airport.
Obviously the term "security" should be changed.Some reports suggested the melee went through the "security area".Maybe just simply call it "the place where we take your stuff"area?
Also dont tar all bikie gangs with the same brush.I have actually had commercial dealings with a "bikie"gang and they were quite truthful when they said their word is their bond.Sure they were crooks but you knew where you stood.In this incident the Comancheros were involved and this group has totally lost it and are a very dangerous organisation.
Finally another great ad for our struggling tourist industry.

 

[dot]

I was watching Sunrise this morning before I headed into work; and could not believe the drivel I was hearing.. they were going on about how the airport is supposed to be one of the safest places in the country, why wasn't Security and the Police there quicker etc. IME Security does not stand around the checkin area, but is mainly located at the security checkpoint (surprise, surprise) and from there-on-in is where the 'most secure' part is.

The other thing to note there is that the Security Checkpoint staff are not their to enforce security at the airport beyond their responsibilities at the checkpoint, they are only their to man that post - remember that the service was outsourced.

I would like to see a timeline of how long they took to get there before laying any blame. Unless there is a police station at the airport, then it will take a few minutes for the police to arrive.

There used to be a police station at the domestic entrance to Sydney airport at the corner of Ross Smith Ave and Sir Reginald Ansett Drv - gone now, but I would expect replaced with a smaller command centre from which the police on the scene were dispatched.

I have seen NSW's finest gathering at the Krispy Creme in Ross Smith Drv which might explain how they were able to be on scene in a minute from when they were notified.

Aside from that, I thought the AFP had responsibility for policing at airports, or is that just at International terminals?

 

[Hvr]

THE wild brawl between bikies at Sydney Airport in which a man was bludgeoned to death had started with pushing and shoving 15 minutes earlier in view of security officers, raising serious questions over the adequacy of airport security.

If true this is absolutely unacceptable. Surely the security guards have an obligation to notify the police that an incident is occurring?

Again, if true, the police will not be happy that security essentially allowed the incident to escalate rather than being dealt with even if all security guards did was notify the police.

 

[markis10]

If true this is absolutely unacceptable. Surely the security guards have an obligation to notify the police that an incident is occurring?

Again, if true, the police will not be happy that security essentially allowed the incident to escalate rather than being dealt with even if all security guards did was notify the police.

I think its safe to say that the security people at the screening point are not guards, they dont carry guns nor other means of restraint, however they are equipped with an alerting mechanisim that is in essence a hotline intercom to the police and I would imagine that was used, AFAIK the ruckus started right out the front of the secondary screening point on the departures level.

In this case, it is in fact Qantas that are primarily responsible for their passengers safety and its also Qantas that are resposnible for the screening, so while the security company is employed by Qantas its Qantas that had control. AFP have overall control and provide a commander while NSW police provide foot patrols (and the odd van to Krispy Kreme's drive through).

http://www.sydneyairport.com.au/NR/...tSecurityGuideVersion3May06amended15jun06.pdf


I had dealings with Qantas security last year when my laptop walked at the QP in Mel, and quite frankly they very lacking in most areas, I have seen more interest and a desire to help from a roadside traffic control person (you know the one that have has the stop and go sign). At the time most of the cameras were not even turned on in the terminal, its interesting to note the problems the law enforcement agenices are having now in getting the data off 6 different CCTV systems, thats an area I have some dealings with now on a professional basis and its clearly not an IP based system using common platform software with good analytic capabilities!

Perhaps this is a good way of summing it up: