Under the new legislation, wearing a gang patch in public would come with a fine of up to $5000 or up to six months in prison. Photo / Police.
Under the new legislation, wearing a gang patch in public would come with a fine of up to $5000 or up to six months in prison. Photo / Police.
Opinion
EDITORIAL
The introduction of laws by Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith outlawing gang patches in public made a big splash, as the pros and cons (excuse the pun) were hotly debated.
Under the new legislation, wearing a gang patch in public would come with a fine of up to $5000 or up to six months in prison. The ban extends to funerals and tangi.
Police Minister Mark Mitchell said New Zealanders deserve to feel safe in their homes, communities and public places.
Those who work among the gangs and their families say gang members are laughing at the new legislation, and it will be interesting to see how the first arrest, the first conviction and first fine is dealt with.
Opposition politicians claim the new laws are dog whistle politics and anti-Māori, as the majority of patched gangsters are Māori. Civil libertarians say the laws are a breach of human rights, and will be tested and defended rigorously.
One way to gauge how the chattering section of the nation views change is to tune into talkback.
Police Minister Mark Mitchell says New Zealanders deserve to feel safe in their homes, communities and public places. Photo / Hagen Hopkins
This medium has run hot with plenty of “average” Kiwis supporting Mitchell’s clampdown. There was even an elderly Pākehā woman who wanted the status quo to remain “because If I see them on the street with their patches on, I can walk down another street”, she told a Newstalk ZB host. She went on to say she witnessed a gang member get knocked of his motorcycle by a rival. She went to the injured gang member’s aid. “He was most respectful. I told him I had to ring police and he asked me if I would take off his patch and look after it. I couldn’t do that,” she said.
Others, who are not so kind, have adopted a dog pack mentality and demand police seize all gang motorcycles, seize gang houses, stop gang members’ benefits, and crush them all.
Fortunately, in a democratic society, that doesn’t wash with the majority of law-abiding New Zealanders.
The court of public opinion is still out on tough new banning gang patch laws.
The most discerning calls that day came from hard-working front-line police officers who are already overworked and overstressed. Adding another resource to their tool belt looks good on paper, but not in the real world of policing.
They say for this change to be truly effective, they need another 5000 officers, a few more than the 500 promised by Mitchell for this three-year term of government.
While Mitchell has been chest-thumping, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster has adopted a wait-and-see approach, as will the judiciary.
Parliament can make new laws and sentence ranges but it is the judges who enforce and dispense justice, not the politicians.
