9. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) Link to this
to the Minister of Police
What are the latest police estimates of the number of criminal gangs, patched gang members, and gang associates in New Zealand?
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Police) Link to this
The police advise me from the latest figures they have that the estimated total number of patched gang members and associates is between 3,000 and 3,500 across New Zealand. They advise me that they are actively working on reviewing those figures. They stress that obtaining accurate figures is very difficult, due to factors such as people being dishonest with the police about their gang membership or associations, and because not all gangs wear patches, and, if they do, those patches are not worn all the time.
Ron MarkHow many dedicated squads within the police deal with crime involving gangs, and how many officers are involved in each of those squads?
I am unable to give the member that information just now, but I will get it to him as soon as question time finishes. As the member is aware, there are a number of units. I do not have the figures with me.
Chester BorrowsCan the Minister confirm her answer to a written question that stated that despite the fact that the police had their own organised crime strategy from 2000 to 2004, when it expired it was never replaced or revised, and that the ministerial crime reduction group did not meet for 4 long years, until 2007, so that for several lost years prior to the drive-by shooting of Jhia Te Tua in May last year the Government did nothing to target gangs?
No, that is totally wrong. As the member knows, although the strategy date expired, the work did not stop. As that member found out when there was a drive-by shooting in Wanganui, out of which a lot of political capital was attempted to be made, the police did their job. They brought in the resources, they had their gang unit working, and they made the arrests that it was necessary to make.
Does the Minister consider that having fewer than 200 officers dedicated to policing a group of criminals that is the size of the population of Napier, and who are responsible for almost all of the $1.5 billion annual methamphetamine trade, to be an acceptable response to the situation?
That would be true only if those police did not have the support of many other police with expert and specialised skills. There is no doubt that the police work as a team; they do not work in isolation.
Can the Minister explain why the Asian crime unit has only five staff, only one of whom is Asian, when it is widely known that most of the methamphetamine and precursors that have been imported into the country are sourced from family and business connections in south China?
The member will be aware that in terms of recruitment a lot of effort is going into recruiting more police officers with Asian backgrounds. But the police do not rely on just that; they have formed very good international links with colleagues in those countries where precursors come from. The intelligence work and the international work they do are not spoken about very loudly, but that work is very important in terms of combating the importation of precursors for methamphetamines.
When can the public expect to see our police given the powers and extra resourcing to make a real impact on criminal gangs, so we arrive at a situation where the number of gang affiliates is falling, rather than the current situation where it is increasing daily?
As I already answered in replying to a question earlier today, considerable work has gone into increasing the powers of the police and also into establishing an organised crime agency to tackle organised crime in which gang members operate as organised criminals. The increased powers in the bill that I tabled today will be important, as will be the search and surveillance powers that come from the very good work that has been done by the Law Commission. I will be tabling a bill on that very soon, as well.