KEY POINTS:
Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws says the proposed gang patch ban could technically enable a facial tattoo to be forfeited to the Crown.
Mr Laws told Parliament's law and order select committee that tattoos would be defined as a display of gang regalia just as patches were.
"If you walk down the main street [of Wanganui] with Mongrel Mob tattooed over your face in big letters and you are strutting and you are intimidating then you will be arrested," he said.
Mr Laws jokingly said that forfeiting the tattoo, as with the patch, "would be an idea".
One obstacle to the bill is that it technically breaches the Bill of Rights but Mr Laws said Parliament should put this to one side for the "greater good" of Wanganui.
To a question that the $5000 fine would not be enough deterrent, Mr Laws suggested "electric shock" and said taking a patch would hurt gang members more than sending them to prison.
He repeatedly described gangs as "terrorists", saying it was ironic that while the Army and SAS helped fight Al Qaeda, New Zealanders were more at risk from gangs.
"In my city when gangs wear their patch they do so for one reason and one reason only - to intimidate , scare and cower law-abiding members of the community."
