He appreciated the Government's announcement of Operation Cobalt, which involves the creation of a dedicated gang task force. But he said it was four years too late and was a result of the Government eventually succumbing to political, public and media pressure.
Labour's firearm prohibition order also seemed weak, as it did not have any additional search powers for police, he said.
Other factors in a rise in the crime rate could be attributed to the justice system.
“I believe the courts and the youth courts are letting the police down. The offenders they catch on Friday night are back reoffending again on Saturday.”
“The Labour Government has created a very permissive environment in which organised crimes and gangs and juvenile offenders feel they can operate without impunity and there are no consequences.”
His party was equipped with more efficient measures to tackle the rising crime, he said.
National had announced four policies which were previously introduced by the Western Australian government to deal with its growing gang problems and had proved effective, he said.
“Firstly, we would try to harmonise the justice system by making sure especially serious offenders get necessary sentences until they can be rehabilitated.”
The second measure would involve helping the police to “not get tied up” with issues like attending mental health visits and “baby-sitting” instances when dealing with Oranga Tamariki.
“Other government agencies need to stand up and start taking some of those responsibilities back. That would free up more time for police to be visible and focus on their core role.”
Non-association orders stopping gangs from communicating and meeting, and implementing strict policies on making gang patches less visible would also help dismantle their stronghold and ease fear in the community.
On the issue of rule 501 where Australia deports New Zealand-born criminals back to New Zealand. Mr Mitchell said it added a “more sinister level of violence” to society and it was hard to tell if Australia would ever change that policy.
Mr Mitchell doubted whether Chris Hipkins taking over as police minister from Poto Williams would result in any major change.
“I believe they have replaced one soft-on-crime minister with another one.
“Hipkins is a slicker political operator and I don't think that there is going to be any fundamental change in terms of leadership or the support being generated out of this Labour government for the police.”
Mr Mitchell was positive about his visit to the region.
“Personally it's great to be back in Gisborne. I have got strong connections here as I lived here and worked in the police in the 90s for about seven years, so I see Gisborne as a second home.
“I think the police in the East Coast can be held up as an example of very good community policing, very proactive and in some ways they are probably leading in keeping their community safe.”
