Gang shootings: 'Riding shotgun with the boys' is what National wants to do, Police Minister says

The Police Minister claims her National Party rival wants to "ride shotgun with the boys" and says it's marvellous policing has changed since Mark Mitchell was a cop.

Poto Williams and Mitchell have exchanged barbs for weeks, as National pursues arguments Labour is soft on crime and the minister is out of her depth.

National has repeatedly called for police to have enhanced warrantless search powers in relation to taking illegal firearms off gang members.

Police Minister Poto Williams says officers are working hard to tackle gang-related crime and the violence was worse a decade ago when National was in power. Photo / NZME

Mitchell, National's police spokesman, asked today if police would have such powers under Williams' proposed Firearms Prohibition Orders legislation bill (FPO).

The minister urged the Opposition to support the FPOs under urgency this August.

She said police had sufficient search and surveillance powers in other arenas, and under Operation Tauwhiro had conducted 743 warrantless searches.

National's police spokesman Mark Mitchell has suggested gang-related crime has surged under the Labour Government. Photo / NZME

Tauwhiro is a nationwide operation launched in early 2021, targeting the illegal importation of restricted firearms.

Mitchell asked if police could use a proposed FPO to stop a gang member and ascertain if the gangster had a gun on their person or in their car.

"That's purely speculative, and I've said that the police have the tools to do the job that they need, including warrantless searches," Williams replied.

"I know that that member would really love to be out there riding shotgun with the boys, and I'm really grateful that policing has changed since the time that he was a police officer. Thank goodness it has."

Mitchell was a police officer from 1989 to 2002 and on one of his first jobs was stabbed with a samurai sword in Rotorua.

Mitchell objected to Williams' answer but Deputy Speaker Adrian Rurawhe said it was a hypothetical question which the minister did not have to dignify with a response.

Act leader David Seymour reminded the House of Representatives that Williams had described the term "soft on crime" as gendered language.

"How would she describe the language 'the member wants to be out riding shotgun with the boys'?" Seymour asked, suggesting that too was gendered language.

"Yeah, probably pretty accurate," Williams replied.

Amid reports of multiple drive-by shootings, Mitchell asked if Williams still rejected claims gang tensions had surged under the Labour Government.

Most high-profile shootings and arsons allegedly connected to gang warfare in the past month have occurred in Auckland.

Several shootings have been linked to reported tensions between the Killer Beez and Tribesmen.

Williams said police yesterday executed 11 search warrants across Wellington and Hamilton, seizing nearly half a million dollars in cash.

Mitchell asked what measures Williams used to gauge if gang tensions were increasing or subsiding.

Williams said the worst year for gang-related serious crime was 2010, when National was in power.

Mitchell objected, and again asked about how Williams measured gang tensions.

Williams again referred to bygone years such as 2009, when multiple gang-related atrocities were said to have been recorded in Dunedin.

Eventually Williams said the measure she used was the same one police applied. The minister believed the number of gang-derived serious harm incidents peaked in 2010.