Police will have expanded powers for dealing with gang violence including a new intimidation offence, but stronger search and seize powers will still need a warrant.
Police Minister Chris Hipkins and Justice Minister Kiri Allan have this morning announced plans detailing the government's efforts to crack down on gang activity.
Their proposals would see a new criminal offence introduced which would make it illegal to discharge a firearm with an intent to intimidate, which would apply in any setting - a strengthening of the current law which applies only inside a dwelling.
Watch the announcement here from about 10.30am:
The new crime would carry a maximum five-year prison sentence.
Police search and seize powers would also be expanded:
- Warrants could allow searches of occupied gang properties and vehicles over 14 days
- The threshold for impounding gang vehicles involved in convoys will be lowered to include aggravated carelessness and reasonable belief the vehicle was used for dangerous or reckless driving
- Cash over $10,000 found in suspicious circumstances can be seized for up to seven days
- Watches, jewellery, precious metals, stones and ships that could be used for money laundering will be added to a list of goods which high-value dealers will be prohibited from selling for cash over a certain value
Violent crime has been on the rise around the country, including in relation to a conflict between the Killer Beez and Tribesmen gangs, and the government has been under pressure to do something about it.
Hipkins said more than 1800 firearms, and 10,000 grams of methamphetamine had been seized, and 1500 arrests made as part of operation Tauwhiro.
"But as a government we are keen to make sure that we can do more and that involves making sure that the police have the right tools to do that."
Police are responding to increased incidents of intimidation and violence on roads, streets and in homes, Hipkins said.
The opposition National Party has been calling for a ban on patches and gang gatherings, although gang leaders decried that policy as 'dog whistle' politics and expert Jarrod Gilbert warned it would do little to address the problem.
Gilbert warned more broadly against listening to politicians with easy answers to gang violence, saying what was needed was to tackle the specific symptoms and causes of crime, while putting pressure on the gangs through policing.
Allan quoted Dr Gilbert, who said solutions were needed to target particular problems.
"This has been the approach that we have taken since we have pulled together this suite of reforms. One of the current problems New Zealanders are worried about - and rightly so - is the spike in gang warfare, as evidenced just here," Allan said.
She said going after guns, vehicles and cash was hitting the gangs where it hurt.
"New Zealanders have the absolute right to feel safe in their homes and the police need the adequate powers to do their job. The Ministry of Justice have worked closely with police to design the suite of targeted measures, to ensure police have the tools that they need to tackle violent organised criminal behaviour whilst also ensuring that the measures are evidence-based and uphold the rule of law."
We all know people did not become gang members overnight, and the government was "acutely aware" the best tool was prevention, rather than "a belated cure", Allan said.
"We know that programmes targeted towards preventing kids and young people from entering the justice system leads to a reduction in gang membership and turning to a life of crime," she said.
"I'll be looking particularly closely at the youth justice system to see how we can make changes to improve both the lives of at-risk people and public safety in the long term."
Hipkins said police had asked for stronger powers to allow them to deal with violent offending and other criminal activities.
"Recent brazen gang activities have been totally unacceptable and our communities deserve better," he said.
"These are practical and targeted measures that will help the police do their job to keep communities safe. We are interested in real solutions, not empty slogans."
He said there was also work being done to address the drivers of crime including youth crime.
Hipkins said he completely rejected the rhetoric of tough on crime versus soft on crime."We're focused on what actually works ... I think rhetoric like tough on crime and soft on crime means absolutely nothing. What we want to know is that we're giving the police [resources] to do things that are going to work to disrupt criminal offending and that's exactly what we've been doing."
He said a variety of things had been at play in the growth of criminal gang activity, and police had not been doing nothing in that time.
"That's not something that we're going to turn around immediately overnight. We need to get underneath that and say 'why are people joining gangs in the first place, what's the market that gangs are tapping into' - and clearly there's a drug addiction market that gangs are making a lot of money off - those are complex problems and we will absolutely tackle those as well. But in the meantime we have to deal with the immediate offending that's in front of us."
There would be further announcements in due course to target the increase in illegal activity, Hipkins said.
Ultimately banning gang patches was not going to make a huge difference and the evidence suggested that would displace gang offending and activity without making it go away, he said.
It was part of an ongoing programme of work and while it would not make gang activity disappear overnight, people should expect further announcements, Hipkins said.
He said there was a lot more that can be done "to choke off the supply of new gang recruits as well".
"If we get young people engaged in constructive activities that doesn't lead them down a path to more serious criminal offending then we can actually turn some of this around in the medium to long term as well."
Allan said that of the 2000 young people on the known gang associates list, and of those 100 percent of them had been "in contact with police at a younger stage of life".
One of the key things - and something learned from Covid - was the government needed to focus its policy settings on outcomes, and they needed to be continually monitored to ensure they were leading to results, Allan said.
The new intimidation offence was a reaction to a rise in a particular type of crime, she said.
"Drive-by shootings aren't something that happened in the '80s and '90s like they're happening right now, so what's going on is that if you have a person that's shooting at a house with the intention to intimidate, yes you can charge them under summary offences for intimidation - the maximum penalty? Three months.
"You could also charge them for discharging a firearm ... under the Firearms Act - maximum penalty six months. I don't think New Zealanders would be satisfied with that as an outcome."
Allan said offences like threat to kill carry a maximum penalty of seven years, while discharging a firearm in a dwelling carries a maximum three-year sentence, so drive-by shootings "probably in the middle, that would probably be about sufficient".
The legislative changes required to make today's announcements happen still need to be drafted, he says. "I'll be making sure that happens as quickly as possible and then we will be working with other parties in Parliament to secure support for the legislation".
Allan said the causes of crime were complex and often inter-generational, and the changes being introduced would give New Zealanders confidence that police had the powers they needed to tackle gang behaviour that made them feel unsafe.
"We will continue to ensure we are upping the ante on intervention and prevention measures that are focused on steering young people away from a life with organised criminal groups," she said.
"I will be looking closely at the youth justice system in particular to see how we can make changes that will improve both the lives of at-risk young people and public safety over the long term."
Both ministers said some work needed to be done in the legislative drafting to ensure gang members were defined effectively.
Hipkins said police would need to convince the person issuing the warrant that there was an escalating or heightened tension between gangs that needed to be addressed. Allan said "a person that has a patch" would be insufficient to target someone.
The details on value thresholds for banning sale of high-value items for cash still need to be decided.
Hipkins said 501s being deported from Australia was one contributing factor, and "we've seen an escalation in gang-related activity particularly associated with the importation of a pattern of criminal offending that we haven't seen associated with gangs in New Zealand to the extent that we're seeing now".
Allan said different recruitment techniques were also being used, and it was not the same as it was years ago as seen in Once Were Warriors. "It's not quite the same across the board now, it's much more of an enticing lifestyle of bikes and bling etc".
Allan said National MP Chris Bishop this morning seemed to be "quite persuaded by some of the pragmatism" associated with the intent to intimidate provision.
Hipkins said the last data he saw was that only one gang member on the national gang register had a firearms licence, "so they are getting their firearms elsewhere, they're either stealing them or they're getting them from licensed firearm owners who are buying them and selling them to the gang members. The register will put a stop to that, it will mean that we will be able to track and trace the firearms."
Hipkins said gang related activity was a problem for communities but he was not interested in the politics of it.
"I don't just want people to stop talking about it or I don't want to force it underground, I want to deal with the problem."