Each year, the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology (ANZSOC) recognises outstanding contributions to the field through its Early Career Researcher Award, celebrating innovative and impactful research by emerging scholars and practitioners.
In 2024, this prestigious award was presented to Megan McElhone for her article, “Gangland and Task Force Gain: An Alternative Account of Middle Eastern Crime in Sydney, Australia”, published in Critical Criminology (Vol. 31, Issue 3).
McElhone’s work offers a compelling and thought-provoking re-examination of the concept of “Middle Eastern Crime,” challenging dominant narratives and shedding light on the complex social and policing dynamics at play. Her research invites readers to reconsider entrenched perceptions and contributes to a deeper understanding of crime and justice in diverse communities.
I caught up with Megan to speak about her research, the inspirations behind her work, and what’s next for her in the field of criminology.
What inspired you to explore the topic of Middle Eastern crime and the role of Task Force Gain?
I suppose I felt more impelled than inspired. I’m Lebanese and I grew up in Bankstown during the 1990s and 2000s. I write about Middle Eastern crime because of lived, collective, and generational experiences of place, power, and racism.
When I started my PhD in 2015, very little had been written about the over-policing of Middle Eastern communities in Sydney since Jock Collins, Greg Noble, Scott Poynting and Paul Tabar’s excellent collective works (including Kebabs, Kids, Cops and Crime (2000)).
It’s strange to me that there hadn’t been more academic scrutiny of this area of police policy and practice. Firstly, the concerted policing of Middle Eastern communities in Sydney pre-dates the declaration of the Global War on Terror. Secondly, after the Cronulla Riots, something of an industry emerged to police (alleged) Middle Eastern cultural capacity. This was exemplified by the NSW Police’s storied Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad, which operated from 2006-2017. Gangland and Task Force Gain provides the first academic account of that Squad, but it was venerated by reporters and police spokespeople for the duration of its tenure. All of this is quite distinctive to the Australian context and warranted further investigation.
I could have never started my research into Middle Eastern crime if Mike Grewcock, Vicki Sentas, and David Dixon hadn’t given me the time of day. I’m incredibly grateful to them for their patience, advice, and time.
What do you think are the most significant insights from your research, and how do they challenge or complement existing narratives?
Common-sense dictates that Middle Eastern crime is a distinct ‘type’ of crime. Reporters and police spokespeople often say that it worsened during the 1990s after the police in New South Wales were hamstrung by the Wood Royal Commission. The story goes that Middle Eastern gangs (usually familial groups) exploited a window of opportunity to carry out capricious violence and grow their criminal enterprises.
But in my article, I argue that rather than denoting a type of crime, ‘Middle Eastern crime’ is best understood as describing an Orientalist police regime in Sydney.
One of the inaugural moments in the establishment of this regime was the creation of Task Force Gain. Before it was succeeded by the Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad, Task Force Gain fixated upon Middle Eastern communities in Sydney’s western and south-western suburbs. These places have been collectively, sensationally, and disparagingly referred to as ‘gangland’ in reporting over the last few decades. So, that’s why I called the piece ‘Gangland and Task Force Gain’.
This fixation occurred at a time when the police needed to reassert their crime control credentials after being rebuked by the Wood Royal Commission, and when they needed to continue to justify powers and funding provided to rein in drug use and distribution in Cabramatta.
Overall, then, I argue that this police regime has brought race into being, with significant effect for those people racialised as Middle Eastern in Sydney. Middle Eastern crime draws on Orientalist tropes for its justification, but also gives the descriptor ‘Middle Eastern’ specific meaning in the Sydneyside/Australian context.
I also argue that police-media liaisons are epistemically violent, allowing police to insulate their knowledge claims about Middle Eastern communities from critical scrutiny.
What impact do you hope your research will have on both policy and public perceptions?
Truthfully, I am not hugely optimistic about affecting policy or public perceptions.
I say this in the immediate aftermath of the education minister announcing an investigation into our colleague Randa Abdel-Fattah’s ARC Future Fellowship, Antoinette Lattouf having been dismissed from the ABC, Khaled Sabsabi having been dropped from the Venice Biennale, and reporters from the Daily Telegraph trying to provoke staff at an Egyptian restaurant that has been vocal in its support of the Palestinian people.
It feels as though the room for Arab Australians to provide critical commentary about anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia – whether it occurs here, in Palestine, Lebanon, or elsewhere – is rapidly shrinking.
But I still think it’s important that there’s a record of the police regime of Middle Eastern crime, and this article goes some way to establishing such a record.
How does it feel to be recognised with the ANZSOC ECR Award, and how has this milestone influenced your career aspirations?
I’m grateful for the recognition – the Selection Committee provided really thoughtful feedback after reading the article. I appreciate the depth of their engagement with my scholarship.
I have been away from Australia for half a decade, having worked at Birkbeck, University of London from 2020-24. But I’m back now, and lucky enough to have joined the team at Monash. So, hopefully this award will help to let people know that I (and this research) exist!
What advice would you offer to other early-career researchers in criminology?
I wish I were better placed to provide advice!
However, I will say, since arriving back in Australia, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some wonderful colleagues and learning more about excellent work that is going on here – not least projects being undertaken by HDRs which ask important questions about criminal justice policy and practice in Australia, and about the state of our discipline.
I think the best scholarship tends to be collaborative. So I’m hopeful of rolling up my sleeves and getting to work on projects relating to policing, race, and place with others soon.
We, the members of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology (ANZSOC), acknowledge the traditional custodians of Australia and the sovereignty of the Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand.
ANZSOC would like to acknowledge the ongoing Traditional Custodians of the lands for which our constituents conduct their teaching, learning, and research. We would like to acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded and the lands, now called Australia, continue to belong to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the Traditional custodians of the lands. ANZSOC would like to pay respects to the Elders who have passed on the legacy of knowledge and culture to the future generations and acknowledge that the future generations hold the hope, the stories and the continued knowledge for current and emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. May this knowledge through Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being and doing guide you with wisdom and courage.
ANZSOC also recognises iwi Māori and their unceded right to tino rangatiratanga (sovereignty) and their expression of mana motuhaka (self-determination). We acknowledge mātauranga Māori (Māori ways of being and knowing) informs both traditional and contemporary knowledge production and its ability to enhance our collective futures.
The Association acknowledges the consequences and harms that continue to be inflicted by the criminal justice systems of Australia and Aotearoa-New Zealand on Indigenous peoples in the region and seeks through its activities to address these harms and to work to prevent them from continuing in the future.
