The rules released by Police Minister Chris Hipkins and Justice Minister Kiri Allan this week will increase police power by expanding the range of offences where police can seize vehicles, allowingfor the seizure of cash found under suspicious circumstances, and increasing search powers to find and seize weapons from gang members.
In addition to this, the Government has also announced that discharging a gun with intent to intimidate would now carry a jail term of up to five years – a move made in direct response to the recent spate of drive-by shootings.
So will any of these new laws actually make a difference to the current surge in gang violence that we've seen?
That depends who you ask, Herald investigative reporter Jared Savage tells the Front Page podcast.
National and the Greens have both criticised the new legislation, but they've come from different perspectives.
While National has called for stronger action like we see in Australia, the Greens have expressed concern about the search powers that would be granted under the new proposals.
"They're all kind of right and they're all kind of wrong… Crime is a very complicated and complex issue that cuts across our society. It's never going to be fixed with one announcement."
Savage says that dealing with crime always requires a balancing act between addressing current violent actions, and then also ensuring we deal with the long-term societal issues that drive communities into gang life.
"We need to be investing in poorer communities that don't have as much opportunity, but that doesn't mean we can't get tough on crime and give the police more tools to do their job properly," says Savage.
"It's good to be having these conversations in terms of what we can do right now to get on top of this, but also what we can be doing in the next 20, 30 or 40 years to address the inequality we have in our country."
Savage says these measures focus on the overt response to crime, which involves visible police action on the street.
"New Zealand Police have always been very good at the covert policing, which includes working undercover and tapping phones," says Savage.
"They do a great job on that. But these measures this week are much more about the overt presence, which focuses on gang members who might be intimidating members of the public."
What these measures will not be able to do is break down the higher-level connections that have led to an increase in the smuggling of drugs into New Zealand.
Earlier this month, two Waikato men were sentenced to prison for their involvement in a conspiracy to smuggle 500 kilograms of methamphetamine and 625kg of cocaine into New Zealand by sea.
"We have seen a massive upswing in drug smuggling in recent years. 20 years ago, when meth first came into the country, the police would celebrate finding a kilogram. That was a huge bust back then. Now, we're seeing 200kg, 400kg, 500kg busts, seemingly with no end in sight."
Savage says that short-term measures like these simply won't do anything to stop the structures that go into moving around that amount of contraband.
"The changes announced this week probably don't really address that. Those cases require long-term covert policing, which can take months, if not years, to come to fruition. The changes this week won't help in slowing down transnational, organised crime groups in Southeast Asia, Europe and Mexico."
• The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am.
