Goldsmith said for too long gangs have been unwanted, intimidating and a pervasive prescience in communities.
The Justice Minister wants fewer gang members on the street but isn’t targeting a specific number.
Ahead of his gang legislation likely passing through Parliament, Paul Goldsmith said the Government’s focus is instead on reducing victimisations and addressing the “visible and intimidating pressure of gangs” in communities.
However, an intelligence document from May obtained by the Herald shows the Canterbury District police team found it was “likely the Government’s new proposed legislation around the ban of gang patches will not have the desired long-term effect on minimising the overt nature of gangs within the community”.
The document says that while gangs may minimise wearing patches in the short-term, long-term success “relies largely on sufficient Police resources to effectively enforce it in each individual instance”.
“There is also a risk the enforcement of the law may provoke or exacerbate tensions between gangs and Police, particularly when Police seek to enforce the patch ban on gang members who are not conducting any overt criminal actively but merely wearing their patches in public.”
Asked by the Herald what police were telling him behind the scenes about their thoughts on the legislation, Goldsmith said there would be a “wide variety of views” in a large organisation.
“I am sure many will welcome having these extra tools,” he said.
He believed the new legislation would allow police to “deal more effectively with gangs”.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is in charge of the gang legislation. Photo / Mark Mitchell.
Labour’s police spokesperson – and previous Justice and Police Minister – Ginny Andersen said the legislation didn’t address the root causes of crime, like family violence, methamphetamine, mental health, and poverty.
“Taking gang patches off gang members don’t address any of those problems.”
She said the ban would drive crime underground.
“It makes people potentially feel safer because they’re not visible, but it doesn’t reduce the amount of criminal activity.”
The Police Association told a Select Committee earlier this year that while it supported the legislation as a “tool” in officers’ toolbox, there were some “fishhooks”. President Chris Cahill said Kiwis shouldn’t expect officers to be arresting every patch-wearing member.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster has previously said officers would exercise judgment about whether to enforce the law at the time or approach the gang member at a later date.
The Gangs Bill and Sentencing Amendment Bill are expected to pass their third readings in Parliament on Thursday.
They would ban gang patches in public places, allow police to issue dispersal notices to gangsters, create non-consorting orders, and make gang membership an aggravating factor at court sentencing.
Labour Party spokeswoman for police Ginny Andersen.
Speaking to the Herald, Goldsmith said success for the legislation would be a reduction in the number of victims of serious crime from gangs.
“Gang members on the [National Gang List] make up less than a quarter of 1% of the adult population... but they’re responsible for 19% of homicides, 23% of Arms Act offences, 25% of all kidnapping and abduction offences and 25% of all crime harm caused by illicit drug offences.”
Police have previously said it is easy to get onto the National Gang List (NGL), but difficult to get off and the list is for intelligence purposes rather than an accurate indicator of gang numbers.
Despite that, National in opposition constantly attacked the previous Labour administration about the rising number of gang members on the NGL under its watch.
Goldsmith said the Government wanted to reduce the number of gang members, but wouldn’t say how much it would like the number to fall by.
“The figure we are primarily focused on is reducing the numbers of victims of serious crime and the gangs are a significant element of that.”
One of the Coalition Government’s targets is to have 20,000 fewer people being victims of assault, robbery or sexual assault by 2029. Last year, 185,000 New Zealanders were victims of such offences.
Given the challenges with the NGL, Andersen believed the Government would be “reluctant” to say how many fewer gang members there should be.
“We will watch very closely to see what those numbers are doing because we’re watchful if they are changing the criteria on that one... but it is a bit rich for them to go on about the increase in gang numbers yet not hold themselves to account by their own standards.”
Police Minister Mark Mitchell confirmed last month that there were 9198 prospect and patched gang members on the NGL in June, compared to 9100 on June 30 last year.
The Justice Select Committee recommended changing some of the wording so that the likes of sporting logos couldn’t be caught up in the ban. Offenders must display insignia that denotes membership of or an affiliation with a gang. They would also need to “knowingly” display the patch in a public place.
The Attorney-General concluded the prohibition of patches in a public place was inconsistent with the Bill of Rights, but Goldsmith remains comfortable with the Government’s approach.
“Parliament needs to always balance the rights of New Zealanders to live their lives without fear and intimidation and safety is a pretty fundamental right as well. If we have to constrain freedom of expression of gang members in public places to achieve that, then we think that’s an appropriate balance.”
He believed it was right for ministers to be the ones to judge if that balance was achieved.
“We’re obviously going to be accountable for that.”
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub Press Gallery office.
