Paxton believed different workgroups were needed to work through the issue at local, regional and national levels.
The crowd before the meeting began. Photo / George Novak
Powell told the crowd they were there because the dynamics of gangs in New Zealand had "changed remarkably".
"They bring with a level of sophistication that we haven't seen previously.
"We are dealing with it here today in Tauranga but this is a New Zealand issue and fundamentally we are dealing with a meth issue ... This is, to be crude about it, a turf war."
Tenby Powell addressing the meeting. Photo / George Novak
Powell said the big question was how to deal with it.
"The point of a hui is that we are the community who live among all this and I think we also need to acknowledge that gangs come from our community. They are members of our community too.
"This is about understanding, this is about empathy and this is fundamentally about your safety."
Powell said the focus needed to be on the "meth issue", and once that was worked on gangs would not be able to do business.
He said many of the issues people were bringing forward were central government issues which needed to be worked on with local government.
Powell believed tackling the issue was resource-intensive but the conjoint mayoral taskforce with mayor Webber would help tackle the situation.
Everitt told the crowd there had been an increase in the number of people requiring residential treatment for methamphetamine-related illness.
He suggested a multi-agency approach where the community came together with shared values.
In the question and answer section of the evening, a member of the audience asked why gangs could not be phased out by not letting gang members into the country.
Another audience member said if gang patches were taken away, the intimidation factor would be "largely removed".
Powell said the community needed to "remove the menace" and that it was "just waiting" for the next incident to happen.
Paxton said gangs were fulfilling a "social need" and other ways to fill that need had to be found.
Paxton said although police "don't always get things right" he encouraged people to stay in contact.
Powell added council could also have done better communicating with residents regarding the road closures last week. They would be "more proactive" in the future, he said.
Margaret Murray-Benge, Western Bay district councillor, directed two questions to Paxton about citizenship and domestic violence.
"Domestic violence is a breeding ground for going into the gangs, is it not," she asked.
"What can we do?"
Margaret Murray-Benge. Photo / George Novak
Paxton said he couldn't comment on whether there would be a policy on deportation like Australia's but said he wasn't sure whether there was a direct link between domestic violence and entering gangs.
"All I know is people enter gangs so they can belong," Paxton said.
An audience member asked about police operations, which Powell said "wouldn't be commented on".
"But I will say they've been very effective at protecting us so far," he said, to which there was a round of applause from the audience.
When asked, "when this will end?" Paxton said the tension between gangs had existed "for a number of years" and would probably continue for another number of years.
"Remain vigilant," he said.
Drug use was a hot topic at the meeting with drugs at the border a big issue for many in the audience.
Powell said they could tackle this in the Bay of Plenty by looking at the demand side through education.
Paxton said there "wasn't a one size fits all approach" to drug use in gangs but it would be a health-focused approach.
One audience member said 60 per cent of people who went to prison for drug use reoffended upon release and they needed to help them on the inside. Powell "absolutely agreed".
Leon Samuels, of the Tauranga Destiny Church Man Up programme, said the community needed to get to "where the issues were" but role models were needed to bring people out of gangs into society.
It was all about "working from the ground up," he said.
The last audience speaker said he was a community patrol member who worked in conjunction with police and urged those in the audience to work with them also.
This was followed by a shooting in Hairini the next day, on a house connected to the Mongrel Mob.
On February 12 there was a double homicide at Omanawa followed by a police shootout the next day which left one person dead. While the police declared the deaths "unrelated to gang conflict", the victims were gang members.
Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell (right) and Western Bay of Plenty mayor Garry Webber are hosting a joint public meeting about gangs and crime tonight at Baycourt Theatre. Photo / File
