New Zealand First Says Gang Moves Insufficient

New Zealand First says the Government’s proposed crackdown on gangs misses the mark and does not go far enough.

Police Spokesperson Richard Prosser says spending millions on new ways to spy on gangs is the wrong approach and probably pointless.

“We already know who the gangs are and we know where they are. Pussyfooting around the edges with extra surveillance fails to address the fact that the essential problem with gangs is that they exist at all,” says Mr Prosser.

New Zealand First would introduce legislation to ban criminal gangs altogether.

“Four jurisdictions in Australia have already banned outlaw gangs and our own Prohibition of Insignia law gives us a mechanism for identifying and classifying them.

“In Queensland, belonging to an outlaw gang is an aggravating factor bringing a 25-year mandatory minimum sentence for a huge range of criminal offences. They’re serious about cracking down on crime over there and New Zealand should be too.

“Putting drug dogs at domestic airports and ferry terminals is frankly misguided, when we already have under-resourcing for sniffer dog services including biosecurity at our ports of entry.

“The answer is to shut the gangs down altogether, and watch the crime associated with them disappear,” says Mr Prosser.

ENDS

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