WA’s recent dob in a bikie campaign has raised the spectre of what constitutes a reasonable appeal for information, and alternatively, what ends up being a Nazi-style hunt for undesirables. The campaign turned over the state’s ‘crime stoppers’ telephone number to the issue of bikie gangs for 16 hours and has raised a furore.

At its launch, Police Minister Rob Johnson said: “These groups have for years been fooling the public into believing that they are a social club, or a group of innocent joy-riders.

“Bikie gangs are highly organised and sophisticated criminal organisations, whose members have been convicted of serious crimes such as sexual assault, murder, robbery, abduction, property damage, drug trafficking and firearms and weapons offences.”

Mr Johnson may have been fooled, but I very much doubt that anyone else was.

Assistant Police Commissioner Wayne Gregson said: “We don’t want to know who you are, we just want to know what you know about bikies, their activities, their friends and associates.

“Even something as innocuous as car or motorcycle registration numbers, bikies’ colours (patches) and their places of employment could all make a difference.”

And there’s the rub. While the police may well get some useful intelligence (no wisecracks, please), it will also be seen as an opportunity to lob a problem at anyone the caller doesn’t like. This style of campaign, where citizens are encouraged to ‘spy’ on each other, has a vicious history in numerous countries – one that we should be trying very hard not to emulate.

The WA cops say they got around 300 calls, about half of which they say were useful. They also claim there will be some ‘significant’ arrests as a result – though the claim and the reality may well turn out to be two very different things.

Long-time motorcycle lobbyist Damien Codognotto was outraged, writing: “I can see why the police spin doctors did not want to use the word ‘dob’. The principle is un-Australian. The police use taxpayers dollars to get people to spy on or dob in their fellow Australians.

“After the ‘Underbelly’ wars here in Melbourne, why not phone in an Italian's number plate so big brother can get a line on mafia crims? Or Vietnamese, or whoever? The Nazis played citizen against citizen, even family against family.

“The whole idea disgusts me. Who knows what some bigot non-rider that knows nothing but the commercial TV news will report as a bikie.”

Sadly, as a nation we seem very fond of dobbing in. The EPA in Victoria runs an ongoing dob-in campaign, where you’re encouraged to report anyone with a smoky vehicle. No, I’m not making this up. Worse, people actually do it. What are we coming to?

You can contact me via guy.allen@traderclassifieds.com.au