By PHIL TAYLOR
Puria Pouwhare-O'Toole was one of those who got away from the gangs.
Mr Pouwhare, a 26-year-old teachers' aid, watched several school friends swallowed up by the gang culture growing up in Porirua and spent "a few years in the gang scene" himself.
He is an uncle of Te Rangi Tait Pouwhare-Carroll who was killed in a gang brawl in Whakatane's main street in May.
The latest episode of gang violence in the eastern bay of Plenty followed the July 1 acquittal of five Mongrel Mob men of his murder. They face new charges of intentional wounding.
Three men were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds after a confrontation between the gangs last week.
It was yet another outbreak of sporadic violence between the predominantly Maori gangs. Mr Pouwhare wasn't surprised. "It's part of gang culture. It's foolishness if you ask me. It's silly buggers. You think you are tough by pointing a gun at somebody."
He is thankful to have got out, after seeing the gangs weren't what they appeared to be - that they were a road to nowhere.
"They hide a lot behind the gang patch. They could pretend to be tougher than they were because they had the back-up."
Gang life revolved around drugs and partying and the crime to pay for it. "I know guys [in gangs] who are 40 and still doing that, 25 years later."
Gang members do leave. The problem is that there are plenty of young aimless people to recruit in their place.
Gang violence and intimidation were so common in the eastern Bay of Plenty people were inured to it and the problem was beyond iwi, said Whakatane police iwi liaison officer Matu Te Pou.
Mr Te Pou's job is to encourage local Maori to help the police, something that is far from automatic in pockets of the region.
"To be seen to support police or any other agency is not regarded as the thing to do," he said. "One or two are standing up to be counted now and we need to support those people."
Mr Te Pou said he would like to see a law banning gangs, to further strengthen police powers.
New Zealand First law and order spokesman Ron Mark wants a law like the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002 to combat gangs.
"They should be treated as terrorists because that is the only way to describe them and they should be treated as such under appropriate laws," Mr Mark said.
Police, however, believe they have sufficient powers. An amendment to the Crimes Act last year outlawing participation in criminal groups was specifically aimed at gangs and gave police real power to target them.
Detective Sergeant Warren Olsson of the police's organised crime unit said about 20 people were before the courts using the new provisions whereas he was aware of only two such successful prosecutions brought under old law.
Other laws gave police the power to seize guns and remove gang fortifications.
Mr Mark accused the Government this week of being hampered by political correctness in dealing with gangs which were predominantly Maori.
But an Auckland University lecturer who specialises in marginal groups, said a law banning gangs was unlikely to be effective.
It would further marginalise a group already living on the edge of society, Dr Tracey McIntosh told the Herald.
She said ways had to be found to broaden the opportunities for young gang prospects.
"Where the choices are limited, gangs look more attractive," Dr McIntosh said.
"In areas of high unemployment, a gang life can look quite appealing. It does give you something to do and people to hang out with and a certain type of identity."
Gangs were a way for people to pursue power, money and standing if they couldn't see themselves gaining it through the usual route of education, a good job and hard work. Often groups that had the least power were seen as being the most dangerous.
"It often then became a self-fulfilling prophecy. What they have to lose is much less than the rest of us."
If we saw a Porsche with the keys inside we were unlikely to take it for a ride because we had such things as status, profession and family to consider, she said. A jobless 16-year-old who had already been kicked out of school might decide he had nothing to lose.
What caused gangs to emerge was complex and so were the solutions. Banning gangs was a response to the activity without looking at what produced it.
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