Attack on gangs 'an election ploy'

EX-GANGSTER'S PARADISE: Mongrel Mob life member Gypsy Wright, 59, at home in Marton. Photo/Stuart Munro

A former active Mongrel Mob gang member says the latest measures planned by the National Government to crack down on gang crime are "a total infringement" of personal privacy.

Gypsy Wright, who made the decision to leave behind his gang patch and criminal life more than 20 years ago, thinks National's latest scheme is an "election ploy" to elicit voter support.

"I'm against these measures - these laws are going to affect innocent whanau. They're all going to be tarred with the same brush," said Mr Wright, a founding member of the Mongrel Mob's King Country chapter. He started the Aotearoa chapter and is a life member of the Mongrel Mob and lives in Marton.

Police and Corrections Minister Anne Tolley this week outlined a package of measures intended to help cut violent crime.

Police say 25 per cent of murder charges are committed by gang members who are also responsible for a third of serious drug offences.

Government plans include a 24-hour GPS monitoring system for high-risk gang members on release from prison, and increased monitoring of gang affiliates. The package announced by Mrs Tolley also included new social initiatives to help gang members break away and to identify young gang prospects and help reform.

Mr Wright said poverty was a leading cause of gang-related crime.

"I think violence in the family unit adds to the problems. People turn to alcohol and drugs, and now gangs are drug-oriented and everything's gone underground.

"Instead of the Government selling the country off, they should be creating employment."

In an effort to encourage gangs away from crime, Mr Wright works with them, too.

"I'm constantly networking with gangs in a positive way. I think in this day and age, with surveillance intelligence they're gonna lose.

"They're gonna end up in jail and die in jail," he said.

Mr Wright, a stay-at-home dad, said gang members couldn't see past the money they get from dealing drugs.

"It's all a sad state of affairs and a continuous cycle," he said.

"As long as there is a shortage of jobs, there's always gonna be gangs."

*Akuino Olaaiga is an AUT journalism student on work experience at the Chronicle