Hell for leather: What the gang patch ban means for Wellington

Thursday, 21 November 2024

As of one minute past midnight, gang insignia became illegal in any public place in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Police have been unequivocal in their assertion that there will be active enforcement from day one and anyone wearing gang patches in public can expect to be arrested.

What remains unknown, however, is how gang members will react. While some say they have every intention of continuing “business as usual”, others have suggested a fight could be brewing.

With the gang patch ban now officially in play, The Post took stock of what this might mean for Wellington, speaking to the man fronting the police operation, New Zealand’s leading gang expert, and gang members themselves.

What is the gang patch ban?

First signalled during National’s election campaign, the Gangs Legislation Amendment Bill is three-pronged, all aspects aiming “to reduce the harm caused by gangs and make communities safer”.

It makes it illegal to display gang insignia in any public arena, and gives police the power to issue dispersal notices to gang members that order them to leave an area and not associate in public for seven days.

It also allows police to apply for warrants to search homes for insignia when a person has been convicted of publicly displaying a gang patch two or more times within the past five years.

So although you could wear a gang patch on your front lawn, as soon as you step onto the pavement you will be committing a crime. While gang insignia can still be worn inside a car as long as it's out of public sight, it can’t be attached or fixed to a vehicle if it's on display.

The legislation defines gang insignia as a sign, symbol or representation commonly displayed to denote membership of, or an affiliation with, a gang. It applies to 35 gangs as specified in the legislation.

It includes any item or thing to which a sign, symbol, or representation is attached or affixed, but excludes tattoos and coloured clothing.

Those breaking the new law will be arrested and have their insignia seized, then destroyed if a court orders so.

Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Basham has been tasked with leading the police response and is adamant that the ban will be actively enforced from the outset: no warnings, no reminders, but immediate arrest, or at least when resources allow.

Where it’s not safe for police officers to interrupt gang activity in the moment, they will do so at a later date, Basham said.

“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.”

Basham said that 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 from 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,” he acknowledged.

What’s the history of gangs in Wellington?

As of September 2024, the number of patched and prospective gang members registered as living in the capital was 1042 with a total of 9384 nationwide, according to police data.

Like most of the country, that number is then broken down into a host of gangs ‒ notably the Mongrel Mob, Black Power, Head Hunters, Killer Beez, Tribesmen, King Cobras, Hell’s Angels and Highway 61 Motorcycle Club.

In terms of ‘gang insignia’, the Mongrel Mob are known to use a picture of a bull dog, Black Power a raised fist and Head Hunters a flaming skull. As of today, the display of these emblems is banned in any public arena.

While you’re unlikely to see a patched gang member walking down Lambton Quay, chapters from these gangs are more often found in the Hutt Valley and Porirua.

Sociologist and gang expert Dr Jarrod Gilbert told The Post that these days it varies between groups as to what a person would need to do to become a patched gang member.

Where you’d once hear that a person had to kill someone or show a propensity towards committing violent crime, these days it was more about showing a “loyalty to that group and your willingness to put that group above anything else”, Gilbert said.

“You need to show that you’re committed to that gang for the long-team and are able to defend the patch and the gang’s name.”

Since 2010 the growth of gangs around the country had been “significant, both in terms of gangs increasing in numbers and new gangs forming”, he said. For example, in 2016 there were 827 gang members registered as living in Wellington and just 449 in 2010.

“With those greater numbers you see increased crime,” he said.

Across the Wellington region, in the past year alone there have been a number of notable instances where gang members were involved in serious crimes.

In January, three people were arrested as part of a homicide investigation into the death of 39-year-old Rawiri Zane Wharerau, who was killed at a family member’s 50th birthday party in Stokes Valley. While the case is still before the courts, The Post understands gang affiliations were at play.

Last year, a Killer Beez gang member was jailed for shooting a member of the King Cobras in the head while he was out celebrating his 21st birthday on Dixon St.

And as recently as October, Nazi salutes and barking signalled a Mongrel Mob procession rolling through Lower Hutt for the tangi of Anaru Moke, the face of the Taitā/Pomare Mongrel Mob.

The convoy was denounced by Police Minister Mark Mitchell as an example of “why we’ve come out very hard against the gangs”.

What might we see in the coming weeks?

Gilbert was eager to warn, though, that a likely scenario will be that gangs substitute patches for another way of identifying themselves.

“That may mean more tattoos, for example. I personally don’t think a person is going to be any less intimidated by a guy with ‘Mongrel Mob’ written across his face than they would a person with a patch on.”

More problematic, perhaps, was the fact patches had been a way of “a large part of the underworld self-identifying itself”, he said.

“That visibility was aiding police, so while there will be some substitution, it will also just drive others underground.”

The gang patch ban also risked creating formal alliances between gangs that had historically been enemies, Gilbert warned.

“We saw this in Australia when the Government targeted gangs. Suddenly, competing gangs were willing to sit around a table, and when it comes to talking about organised crime, that’s clearly not a beneficial development.”

Signs of a willingness to lower weapons against the Government as a common enemy were alive and well at the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti protest march to Parliament this week, with patched members of a host of gangs walking side-by-side.

For one Te Whanganui-a-Tara Mongrel Mob member, who asked The Post to identify him by his nickname ‘Hurricane’, the gang patch ban was already bridging steep divides.

“Out on the streets it’s war, but on this we are standing together. We’re unified for a common reason, which is to keep what we believe in alive.”

When asked what his patch meant to him, Hurricane said: “My patch is my life. It was my father’s life. It was my grandfather’s life. It is my identity.”

“For us, this is our religion. It lives on our back and is what we call our patch. It represents my family and my spine. When I’m wearing my patch, I try not to let my bros down.”

Hurricane was planning on wearing his patch today and beyond ‒ “they can’t stop me”.

Highway 61 gang members Sam West and ‘Pezza’ echoed Hurricane’s sentiments.

“It’s going to be business as usual. We’re going to go about our days as usual, and if they want to pull us up and try and rip our vests or clothing off us, then good luck to them,” Pezza said.

West said he hadn’t been in trouble with the law for 14 years, but feared that would all change with the new law: “Suddenly I’m going to be a criminal just because of what I wear.”

Lifetime honorary member of the Mongrel Mob, Harry Tam, was more cautious in his approach to the change.

“I don’t wear my patch very often any more. I normally just wear it for special occasions and tangi, but they usually take place on private properties, so I hope I’ll be ok,” Tam said.

Tam warned that there was a “very mixed” mood amongst gang members in the capital - “some people are talking about civil disobedience, others are looking at judicial review”.

“My biggest worry is what might happen to the youngsters who resist. There’s too many grey areas,” he said.

Kaumātua of Black Power, Denis O’Reilly, said that regardless of what happens today and beyond, 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 gang members who will gleefully meet them.

“I’ve seen communities explode before, and I don’t want to see that here. I remember the big brawls of the 1980s.”