The police minister says those claiming children were left on their own following police raids on homes in Ōpōtiki are "wrong".
An operation last month targeting houses suspected to be connected to the Mongrel Mob have resulted in reports of a three-year-old being left for hours unsupervised, and three children being left behind at school after both their parents were arrested and no plans were put in place to collect them.
Mark Mitchell said in both cases he had followed up with police, who said it was "absolutely not the case".
The minister was in Ōpōtiki in recent days where he met with local iwi, councillors, the mayor and police, and he said "none of those stories have been verified to them at all".
"In fact the issues that were raised with me, we went away and fact-checked that, and it wasn't the case at all."
Mitchell called on those who were making the complaints to take their concerns to the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) so they could be investigated.
"Police won't leave children in a house. They don't do it, they're very careful."
Mitchell said he had not heard about a further claim of a kuia and her daughter-in-law being strip-searched as part of the operation. Later in the afternoon he confirmed at least one woman was searched by a female officer in a private bedroom.
"There were people searched, which happens every time there's a warrant executed. The one issue that was raised with me about a female being searched was that there was a female searched - it was done by a female police officer in the privacy of a bedroom and that is quite normal."
He said he did not know the age of the person searched, and did not have details about whether the woman was stripped or whether anyone who was searched was not later charged.
"That's way too much level of detail, you're going to have to go to police and ask them all those questions.
"They've done an outstanding job, they've made a huge dent in organised crime on the East Coast and around Ōpōtiki, the people of Ōpōtiki are very thankful and very relieved.
"This is business as usual for police, they search people, they search people when they execute warrants. They're executive warrants on people that are part of a gang that have got evidence, that have got firearms, that have got methamphetamine, this is what police do."
He said it was a focused operation targeting the Mongrel Mob Barbarians, and his assumption was the houses being searched were those of gang members.
"The one thing we do want, and the police have got an important part to play but can't do the whole thing themselves, is we want the kids out of these gang homes. We've seen the intergenerational harm that's caused and we're a government that's really focused and committed to making sure that we try and stop that."
If police had done something wrong, that could erode their high-trust model of policing and he would be the first person to step in, he said, but anecdotal information needed to be verified.
The prime minister was asked about the allegations of unsupervised children at his post-Cabinet press conference on Monday afternoon, and he sought assurances from police last night.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday morning, Christopher Luxon said "there was no point, as I understand it, where children were left alone".
"[Police] disputed and disagreed with how it was represented."
Labour leader Chris Hipkins wanted those making the claims to take their complaints to the IPCA.
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