Gangs Act: New Zealand police lay 38 charges, seize patches nationwide but none in Northland or Southern

The Killer Beez and Tribesmen are two gangs often seen in the Far North town of Kaikohe.

All but two police districts nationwide have reported arrests and seizures of gang patches under the new legislation.

Thirty-eight charges have been laid across the country since the Gangs Act came into force.

The Government has banned gang patches to reduce gang visibility and public intimidation.

Courts will be able to issue non-consorting orders, and police will be able to stop criminal gang members from associating and communicating.

The first person was prosecuted three minutes after the law came into effect on November 21.

He was a 51-year-old Napier man stopped by police, who spotted a large Mongrel Mob sign on his car dashboard.

Since then police from Auckland and as far south as Canterbury have laid charges under the act.

But New Zealand’s most northern and southern police districts are yet to make their debut.

In Northland it seemed the 391 gang members on the National Gang List, according to February’s records, were complying with the introduced laws.

“At this point we are seeing signs of good decision making from gangs on the new rules,” a police spokesperson said.

Patches were being put away in the Far North town of Kaikohe, which gained notoriety in 2022 as the scene of a violent clash between formerly allied gangs the Tribesmen and Killer Beez.

Kaikohe Business Association deputy chairperson Linda Bracken said patches had been very prominent before the ban but were now hardly seen.

“Visually going through the street they’re not wearing their patches when they go out on their bikes.”

The bikes and visible gang colours still made them recognisable, Bracken said.

“They don’t want to lose their patches ... Their patches are precious to them.”

Kaikohe made headlines in 2022 following a violent gang clash. Photo / NZME

Bracken felt removing patches from the public eye had stopped a lot of fear among the public.

And it was not just the police keeping the gangs in line.

Bracken said a Kaikohe business told a gang member who had walked in that they were welcome to stay but needed to take off their patched jacket.

“They’re trying to find the compromise. You’re no longer allowed to wear it, it’s no longer legal, please remove it but you can store it like anybody stores a jacket.”

A police officer told the Northern Advocate they were relieved about the level of compliance they had seen.

Before the ban came into effect, officers had feared enforcing the gang patch ban would lead to more assaults on police in rural areas.

The police association also warned the gang patch ban would be hard to police in small Northland towns, where there are one or two officers.

When discussing help for gang hotspots, former police commissioner Andrew Coster said the prevalence of gangs did not necessarily match the prevalence of police, particularly in smaller provincial centres such as Northland.

And although doubt has been cast over the accuracy of the gang list figures, February’s gang list headcount for Northland was six fewer than police’s tally of full-time constabulary staff in the region in June.

As for the Southern police district, police said the reason for the zero tally was simple: no law breaches have been identified.

In June the district, which covers an area from Stewart Island to the Waitaki River and west to Haast, had 607 full time constabulary staff, and 297 patched members on the National Gang List as of February.

Assistant police commissioner Paul Basham said police nationwide reported good levels of compliance with the new laws.

“We have, and continue to see isolated examples of poor decision-making, and our staff have done an excellent job actively enforcing any breaches.

“Police have laid 38 charges in the first seven days, seized 62 items of gang insignia including 16 patches and the motorcycle of a chapter president, and we have a number of further search warrants being worked on as part of active investigations.”

Breaches of the ban carry a sentence of up to six months imprisonment or a $5000 fine, and insignia would have to be forfeited and destroyed.