‘We’re as ready as we can be’: Police brace for new gang-patch ban

Sunday, 17 November 2024

A Black Power kaumatua is urging calm, amid fears that some gang members will ‘gleefully’ fight back against police who try to confiscate their insignia. Virginia Fallon reports.

Even before the new law comes into force, at least one man is preparing to break it.

Some time after Thursday, he’s going to put on his patch, wander into a city square and call the police.

When they turn up he’ll neither remove it nor resist arrest. This crime, unlike his prior ones, will be committed both peacefully and in the utmost belief that he’ll ultimately be cleared by the Supreme Court.

“I keep reading the police expect gang members to fight for their patches. We are, just not how they think.”

With the display of gang insignia in public places becoming illegal from Thursday, November 21, all sides are bracing for the unknown.

Police are concerned about resourcing and safety; one senior gang member is calling for calm; others are vowing to fight, and experts warn the ban could both breach the Bill of Rights and achieve the opposite of what it intends.

“Buckle up,” another gang member told the Sunday Star-Times this week, “it’s going to be a hell of a ride.”

Broadly, the new law is this: yes, gang insignia can be worn at home; no, it can’t be worn in any public place - that means shops, pubs, cemeteries or pretty much anywhere other than home.

Yes, it can be worn in a car - as long as it's out of public sight - and no, it can’t be attached or affixed to a vehicle if it's on display.

All of this excludes tattoos, which takes the breath out of National’s Mark Mitchell, now the police minister, who last year said the party would consider making gang members cover up with foundation.

As an aside, neither swastikas nor Nazi salutes are banned, with Act leader David Seymour offering the torturous explanation that there’s “a difference there. People are genuinely intimidated by seeing certain gang patches and symbols.'

Those breaking the new law will be arrested and have their insignia seized, then destroyed if a court allows. Additionally, police can issue dispersal notices and non-consorting orders to stop gang members from associating or communicating for up to three years, and also search the homes of people who breach the ban three times.

Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Basham says the ban will be actively enforced from the outset: no warnings, no reminders, but immediate arrest, or at least when resources allow.

“At the end of the day Parliament has passed a law, the purpose is really clear, officers are required to enforce the law, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

But he also acknowledges concerns from police, such as those reported in this month’s Police Association magazine where Robert Sherborne from the Kāpiti Mana district said his area wasn’t as fortunate with staffing numbers as others.

Officers there are concerned about being outnumbered by a lot of young Mongrel Mob members “who are probably going to be willing to fight for their patch”.

Basham says police can be moved about the country when required, and officers must put their own safety first when dealing with gangs.

“Where we can’t act in the moment because it’s unsafe to do so or we don’t have the resources, we can circle back and follow up and take action if required.”

Basham says while there’ll undoubtedly be a period of bedding the new law in, what’s also making the operating environment uncertain is the differing responses both from and within the country’s numerous gangs.

“It’s quite nuanced, quite complex and layered, so it’s hard for us to know exactly what we’re dealing with it.

“We have spent a lot of time in the engagement phase looking to educate and encourage, and there’s a sense from that engagement that some gangs, members and clubs are prepared to look to comply with the law and adapt.”

Still, he’s positive about the legislation, saying his staff are already policing the gangs so are better versed than most in their impact.

“We definitely see this as another tool for us to continue to prevent and disrupt illegal gang behaviour… We’re as ready as we can possibly be.”

However, Police Association president Chris Cahill says outcomes are far from certain.

“I can’t think of another law where I’ve sat back and thought, ‘How is this really going to unfold and work in practice?’

“You’re targeting a group who aren’t known to obey the law, and how they react is going to be a big part of what unfolds and then how police have to respond.”

Cahill anticipates a large percentage of gang members “will push the boundaries. That’s going to lead to, at times, some pretty significant confrontations with police.”

Asked whether police actually want to uphold this law, Cahill says it’s a mixed bag: mainly positive, but with a lot of apprehension about how it will work in reality.

“Also the point is, will the courts then support it? The lower courts probably will, but my view is this will eventually be decided by the Supreme Court, and there will be a clash between the law, Bill of Rights and whether they decide it’s too big a breach.”

And, Cahill suspects, policing the new law may well change from district to district - there’s a vast difference between Auckland Central and, say, Ruatoria.

“Gang tangis are going to be interesting. These are memorial services to someone and for police to turn up en masse and arrest people wearing patches, it’s going to be quite a flashpoint.

“Officers will need to be careful.”

Carhill says people can point to similar overseas laws but NZ has a unique gang culture “especially in relation to our ethnic gangs”.

“They’re part of many communities, whānau to many people, and the patch is part of their life; not something they put on a couple of times a year.”

Professor Juan Tauri (Ngāti Porou), a criminologist at the University of Melbourne, says rather than reduce crime, the new law will instead increase arrests, imprisonment and gang recruitment.

“It won’t succeed because gangs are very nimble. They have had decades of scrutiny, whether in NZ, Australia, US or the Netherlands. They’ve lived under massive surveillance, laws that have been designed to suppress their membership activity, and yet they’ve still thrived, because they adapt.”

Tauri predicts the new law will see already hard-to-reach communities disengage with the police, amid increased targeting of young brown people, and further alienate an already divided society.

“I suspect the damage will be intergenerational and make things worse, certainly for working-class Māori, Pasifika and Pākehā. It will be terrible.”

Denis O’Reilly, kaumātua of Black Power, says regardless of what happens after Thursday, both sides are going to need cool heads.

“There are some policemen who are waiting for midnight on the hour to do what they want to do, and there are gangs members who will gleefully meet them.

“There are others who are more concerned about their whānau, police and gang members.”

While he believes the ban may well work, or at least work in some areas, he’d much prefer police were given more opportunity to deal with the “real organised crime” committed by the people furtherest from gang members.

“But if this policy means we have safer streets, people don’t feel intimidated, and it does curb criminal behaviour, then god bless it.”

And his advice to everybody, both sides, all colours?

“Take a f…ing deep breath folks, step back from the brink, we can get through this.”

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