Mitchell pushes for bylaw to ban gang patches

Clayton Mitchell.

A bid to ban the wearing of gang patches in Tauranga will become the swansong for Tauranga City councillor Clayton Mitchell before he officially resigns his council job to become an MP.

Speaking from Parliament, where he has been familiarising himself with his new life as a list MP for New Zealand First, Mr Mitchell said he would email the mayor and councillors to get the issue back on the table.

His concerns that patched gang members intimidated people going about their daily lives were first raised in March, resulting in the council agreeing to ask staff to investigate the issues relating to a bylaw on gang insignia. It was meant to have been considered at last month's meeting of the city vision committee but Mr Mitchell, who attended the meeting, said it appeared to have been overlooked.

He knew his move did not have the full support of the council, with some saying a bylaw banning the wearing of gang patches in public was sending the wrong message.

Mr Mitchell said his views were reinforced when he watched an old lady, fearful of three patched gang members coming in her direction, cross to the other side of the road.

When people with different beliefs and outlooks on life intimidated others and made them feel vulnerable, society needed to take a stand, he said.

Mr Mitchell raised the issue with Western Bay's police area commander Inspector Clifford Paxton at a council meeting in April.

The audio record of the meeting showed Mr Mitchell saying he wanted to turn the issue into a positive, by giving police the powers to "disincentivise" gang members being antisocial and intimidating people.

Mr Paxton responded that the police had to remain impartial. It was something that had to be discussed by the community and it was up to the council to bring those views together.

City vision committee deputy chairman Cr Matt Cowley told the Bay of Plenty Times the issue had been put into "dormant mode", unless there was a significant community demand for a bylaw.

The council was looking at what impact the bans have had elsewhere. "If they had a big impact, then we would consider it."

His recollection was of police saying that gang patches were no more and no less an issue in Tauranga than in other communities. Police's key priorities revolved around the supply of alcohol and psychoactive substances.

Gang Patch Bans

2007: Bylaw proposed in Manukau
2009: Bylaw enacted in Wanganui and proposed for Timaru
2010: Bylaw proposed for Wairoa
2014: Bylaw proposed for Tauranga