KEY POINTS:
An Auckland vigilante group is teaching members of the Asian community how to use everything from pens to perfume as weapons to fight crime.
Its methods include snatching handbags from unsuspecting restaurant-goers, then watching their victims' reactions before advising them on how to protect themselves.
The Asian Anti-crime Group says "life is more important than the law" and encourages members to use force when confronted by criminals.
"In a society where the police and law fail to protect the people, we have to use every means we have to protect ourselves. That is when vigilante groups are formed," AAG founder Peter Low told the Herald.
He said the group was "not a gang or a triad" but "ordinary citizens doing something that the police have failed to do".
About 300 people have joined the group since it was formed three months ago, and Mr Low - an immigrant from Singapore - says he is confident of getting at least 3000 members in the next few months.
"Many Asians are fed up with crime getting out of control and tired of help groups that talk but do little action," he said.
"They are attracted by the AAG, which concentrates on action, and lessons they learn here are not easily forgotten."
The group's methods are gaining strong support from Asian senior citizens and many Chinese students.
Johnny Tian, a student from Shenzhen in southern China, said: "We are sick and tired of being helpless when constantly targeted by criminals, and feel that finally there is a group that can speak strongly and loudly for us."
A 63-year-old immigrant from Malaysia, who did not want to be identified, said: "I have been worried sick since the recent murders, and if not for the AAG, the police and Government will just happily sweep it under the carpet."
But the group's unorthodox crime-fighting methods have drawn strong criticism from the police.
The acting area commander for Counties Manukau East, Andrew Coster, said some of its actions - such as the restaurant handbag snatching - "cannot be condoned by the police".
But Mr Low says: "The police and laws in New Zealand are a joke, and when we live in a society where the police and the law cannot protect us we have no choice but to do everything we can to protect ourselves."
The AAG is leading a protest march in Botany tomorrow to lobby Parliament for stronger laws and tougher sentences.
But Asian Council on Reducing Crime chairwoman Rosa Chow said she would not be attending the demonstration as she wanted her group - a more established Asian anti-crime organisation - to "maintain a separate identity" from the AAG.
"Although we respect the fact that people are free to do things in different ways, we are concerned at those people who take the law into their own hands, and we are more inclined to co-operate and work with the police."
Instead of participating in the march, Ms Chow said her group would lobby Parliament by printing a petition in the Chinese Herald.
