You don't gain respect by fear, ex-gang boss advises

Former Whangarei Black Power boss Martin Kaipo is not surprised youth gangs are the fastest growing criminal groups in New Zealand.
For more than a year, the youth worker and former gang member has been telling anyone who will listen that youth gangs are out of control in the city.
"It's not only youth gangs, it's youth groups," he says. "Some are affiliating themselves with adult gangs but some are just affiliating themselves with American culture."
According to information provided by Northland police, Whangarei has noticed an explosion of gangs since 2005. There are now 17 main youth gangs in the Whangarei District alone.
Mr Kaipo, in his role as general manager of Otangarei Youth Sports and Recreation Trust, deals with young gang members on a daily basis.
"I growl them. There is no use in pulling strings but when I do get to spend quality time with them, I talk about ways of doing better things.
"I talk about being respected and gaining respect - you don't gain respect by creating fear," he said.
Mr Kaipo drifted into the gang scene at about age 14, was a fully patched member of the Black Power by the age of 16 and was a gang leader by the age of 20.
He was in the gang between the early 1980s to the early 1990s but left the gang after his younger brother was sent to prison "for life" while still in his teens.
"He considered my brother and myself as role models and we realised we weren't the ideal role models for him. We didn't want our families to experience that type of realisation.
"It made me look in the mirror, and I thought it should have been me (in jail) rather than him."
Most youth gang members had no idea of the life they were getting involved in. They tended to take on negative role models and were attracted to youth gangs because they gained a sense of belonging. Typically the groups had no guidelines or leadership, he said.
"In our day there were guidelines to the movement itself and you were governed by those guidelines.
"Most of these youth gangs don't have any governing guidelines.
"They're overwhelmed by the media and it's like society itself promotes an image of the young male's role as a front figure or macho. Perhaps we should be promoting the need for them to take a part in the nurturing role."
The community needed to take ownership of the problem, he said.
"We need to start thinking about the community as a wider family and the community needs to take ownership.
"Look at all of these statistics, the lack of role models, dysfunctional families, the influence of methamphetamine and drugs and alcohol. We need to start making the families accountable," he said.
"If society says that a kid should get an education then it's the parent's responsibility to see that the child is educated."