“With Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said.

“I’m glad the strong law enforcement focus on gangs under Operation Cobalt and Tauwhiro will be embedded into each Police District. This was supported and funded by Labour.

“Labour also funded the National Gang Unit. It was called the National Organised Crime Group. In 2022, we invested $94.5m to support the Government’s cross-agency response to organised crime, including through the Resilience to Organised Crime in Communities programme, Transnational Organised Crime Strategy and programmes focused on preventing the harm to New Zealand communities caused and exacerbated by drugs, firearms violence and serious criminal offences.

“Unlike Labour, National has put no extra resources today into tackling gangs and organised crime. Just like they won’t pay police properly for the extra work they’re asking them to do.

“Mark Mitchell couldn’t say how many people would be in what he says are ‘new’ units, what they would do or how they would be funded – this is a rebrand of Labour’s approach, not anything new,” Ginny Andersen said.

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