Gangs don't recruit from schools, says Black Power leader

THE President of Wanganui Black Power has denied gangs are recruiting Wanganui teenagers from schools.
Black Power President John Aki contacted the Chronicle yesterday to say Mayor Michael Laws' claim last week that gang members were recruiting from schools was wrong.
Last week Mr Laws said Black Power and Mongrel Mob prospects were recruiting prospects straight from local schools.
Mr Aki said none of his members had tried to recruit members from local secondary schools.
"I don't know where he gets his information. I know for a fact it isn't true," Mr Aki said.
Black Power had no members aged under 19 and was not recruiting at all.
"We wait for people to come to us."
Mr Aki said he couldn't speak for other gangs but challenged Mr Laws to show him the evidence that recruitment was going on.
"It's not fair for him to say that and mislead the public? it just fuels bad feeling in the community."
He also asked Mr Laws to define what he saw as a gang.
"I won't take responsibility for anyone who just wears a blue scarf and is not a registered member of our club," he said.
Police said last week they had no evidence of any gang recruiting directly from schools.
Wanganui Girls' College principal Vivianne Murphy also took issue with the mayor's comments.
Mr Laws said local white middle-class parents were sending their kids to High School and Collegiate, which was creating social divisions.
Mrs Murphy said Girls' College didn't have any of those issues at all.
"Those issues are stopped at the gate and the students respect that and carry on with their learning."
There was a good cross-section of students represented in the college, and any issues suggested by Mr Laws were well distanced from the school, she said.
Mr Laws said yesterday he wasn't referring specifically to Black Power, even though he named the gang in his e-newsletter.
He said a number of parents had contacted him worried about their children being influenced by gangs in schools and said, through a spokesperson, he would believe them over whatever gangs said.
Mr Laws said reporters should do "proper journalism" and interview youth about the problem.
Yesterday afternoon the Chronicle approached 15 teenagers in the central city, many of whom were students, and asked them if they thought the problem was significant.
Three of them said they believed the problem existed but was more likely to have been caused by peer pressure rather anything more sinister.
One young man said it was a self-esteem issue for many youngsters and was "society's problem, not just youth's".
The rest of the people spoken to said they had never seen or heard of anything like Mr Laws suggested and did not believe it was a widespread problem.