KEY POINTS:
The story goes that the Mongrel Mob got their name in the late 1960s when a judge called some men before him "a pack of mongrels" and the name stuck.
Yet a pack of mongrels does not even begin do justice when it comes to describing the members the gang has spawned that now have the blood of an innocent toddler on their hands.
The saddest part of all this is the predictability of it all. And for that reason the trigger man and his crew should only be the first in a long line to blame for the needless death of the child.
Because what real effort has New Zealand ever made to stop the gang wars?
A drive-by shooting in a troubled suburb amid what Wanganui police yesterday somewhat euphemistically called a "tit-for-tat retaliation" between the Mongrel Mob and Black Power.
Such a crime would hardly even be national news unless somebody died.
Even then, would it have even registered on the public if the victim was a member of either gang? New Zealanders have long tired of the fighting, and barely spare a thought "as long as they are killing each other".
It could have been in the Ford Block in Rotorua. Or in the rural Bay of Plenty towns of Ruatoki and Taneatua. The suburb of Highbury in Palmerston North. Christchurch. Or it could have been Wairoa on the East Coast.
And like any long war - this one over nothing more than red versus blue - the soldiers that enlist get younger by the day. Almost every day in the north, south, west and east of Auckland street gangs do battle in the colours of their fathers and big brothers.
And with every battle comes warnings that someone innocent could get caught in the crossfire. And there is almost always crossfire, because there is so often a gun involved.
Where do they come from? Police admit to having no idea at the size of the black market for weapons - except that is big enough to survive even if every legally owned gun was taken out of the country.
They are more ubiquitous in gangs than jobs: the discovery of baby sleeping on a gun during a recent bust of a Wellington gang house adds to the predictability of this latest death. Drugs, too, are ever-present.
Even the innocent victim is nothing new.
In 1996 Black Power members gunned down and killed Christopher Crean in front of his wife and young children at his New Plymouth home. Crean, a church pastor, had witnessed the two gangs fighting in the street earlier that year and had the courage to stand up and testify against them.
In 2002, 16-year-old Black Power prospect Wallace Whatuira was gunned down and killed by mobsters as part of the Highbury wars just a city away from Wanganui. Wallace's father was a senior Black Power member - he was born into it as much as this latest toddler was.
In Wanganui there will be a police crackdown, raids, and maybe a murder trial. The death of a toddler leads common sense to suggest that the killers will given up by those around them. But will they?
As we have seen in so many other gang crimes - notably that of those who killed Whatuira - the justice system has its witness screens, closed circuit television evidence, immunity from prosecution for informers and other measures.
But are they strong enough to even get them to trial?
There will be stern words from politicians, and the Police Association will make renewed calls for extra resources to police gangs. There will be well-meaning statements from former gang members and community groups will make isolated and spirited attempts to quell the violence. The calls for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into gangs and a ban on patches are at least innovative.
The death of the toddler in Wanganui tells us this will not be enough.
The United Kingdom has grappled with "black-on-black" gun crime amongst its Jamican "Yardie" gangs for years. It too has seen the death of innocent by-standers, most notably schoolgirl Toni-Ann Byfield, shot in the back during a gang retaliation hit on the man she was staying with.
The police and community response there has been proactive. In London, the Metropolitan Police have run Operation Trident, a dedicated unit with a layered approach. There are gun amnesties, and flashy advertising campaigns.
An independent advisory group from the community advises the community. Non-fatal shootings are given a high priority because they are of course a whisker away from death. Witnesses get specialised treatment. The network of informers is strong. Trident boasts a 100 per cent murder detection rate in its latest year.
The key is that ethnic gang gun crime is treated as a specialised crime.
New Zealand police will say much of this happening here. Communities too are making a stand. But it is piecemeal.
We know what the problems are. A project with similar values to Operation Trident that focussed communities and police on getting solutions would be a start.
Gang killings are a predictable crime. There has been no better time for New Zealand to get less predictable in its response to them.
* Herald reporter Patrick Gower has reported on numerous gang killings both in New Zealand in the UK for Jane's Police Review.
