Kerre Woodham: Rising gang numbers aren't good but the charges are

Gang membership is on the rise, but if you believe Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Basham, an increase in numbers is not necessarily a bad thing. Gang numbers have climbed past 10,000, up from 9,200 in 2023, but that might be, he says, because they're keeping a closer eye on gangs, their intelligence is better, they know who's in and who's out, the record keeping and the data is better. He told Mike Hosking they have a laser focus on gangs and since the Gang Act was passed, they've launched more than 9000 charges against gang members.  

“Our staff are awesome, and I don't think we've ever been better. You know, there's been lots of reporting about the work we're undertaken against gangs like the Comancheros, last month, we were operating against the Greazy Dogs in Tauranga, two weeks ago we took out a chapter of the Hell's Angels in Whanganui. And that's pretty significant in policing terms because they don't make that easy for us, and to take out the Hell's Angels from a law enforcement point of view is significant and reflects the fact that our staff are doing awesome work.  

“You know, we're operating in a way that the government and the community would want us to be in the way that we're tackling organised crime and gang criminal behaviour. You know, we have the ambition for our communities to be safe and feel safe and I think the gang legislation that dropped last year has had a significant impact out there in terms of community feelings of safety and the feedback that we're getting is very positive in that regard.” 

Absolutely. You could also look at the rise in unemployment too and see correlation and rise in gang numbers. Smart people know that gangs are nothing but evil pyramid schemes. The only ones who make any money are the ones at the top and the favoured area managers. A bit like Nutrimetics on speed. Those at the bottom, the ones doing the door to door selling and the deliveries are dumb grunts who do the dirty work and pay the price.  

There were ten Mongrel Mob members, defendants in a murder trial in Tauranga earlier this year. They are prime examples of dumb grunts. Google them. I don't think I've ever seen a more hopeless, hapless, pathetic group in my life – they are just collectively woeful. Smart people don't join gangs, they start them. So if you're someone in a small town with few options for employment, you have few options in life, then you might find the idea of gang life attractive. You've got very little else going on in your world and your brain and your life. Being a grunt in a gang when there is very, very high unemployment and few options in your town, might seem attractive.  

But the good news is that police are acting – 9000 charges against the gang members since the new gang legislation was brought in. And I don't know about you, but I am not seeing the swaggering, posturing arrogance that I used to see on the streets, on the roads in my neighbourhood. I know the gangs are still operating as business as usual. That hasn't stopped. But what has changed is that the police are really inconveniencing them. They're making it difficult for them to do business. The legislation means that police can target gangs, they can target gang members, they can ginger them up, annoy them, make it difficult to go about their day-to-day business. I don't have to watch the gang members in my neighbourhood patched up strutting around the neighbourhood like they own it. And that that suits me. I know that they're still out there. I know that they're still doing what they can because they think they're untouchable.  

It's going to take a wee while – it has only been 18 months since they were given the keys to cities, the keys to towns, and the keys to the open roads. So it's going to take a bit of a moment to shift that. Rising gang numbers, sure. I guess if you want to see it as a bad thing, you will, it’s certainly not good that 10,000 people feel they have little option other than to join a gang. That life is better for them in a gang than it is within the community. That's sad. That's a damning indictment. But police bringing 9000 charges against gang members. It's a very good start. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Carrywood and Morning's podcast from news Talks, he'd.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Be gang membership is on the rise, but if you
believe Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Basham, an increase in numbers
is not necessarily a bad thing, proving that he's a
good Assistant Police commissioner who's been to his media training.
Paul Basham put a spin on it with Mike Costking
this morning, saying that gang numbers have climbed past ten thousand,

(00:34):
up from nine two hundred and twenty twenty three. But
that might be, he says, because they're keeping a closer
eye on gangs. Their intelligence is better. They know who's
in and who's out. The record keeping and the data
is better. He told Mike Costing. They have a laser
focus on gangs and since the Gang Act was passed,
they've launched more than nine thousand charges against gang members.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
El Staff Wilsome and I don't think we've ever been better.
You know that there's been lots of reporting about the
work with undertaking against gangs like the Common Serio's last
we were operating against the Greasy Dogs and Totonga. Two
weeks ago, we took out a chapter of the Health's
Angels and Tonganili, and that's pretty significant in place in
gems because they don't make that easy for us, and
to take out the Hell's Angels from a law enforcement

(01:19):
point of view is significant and reflects the fact that
our staff are doing awesome work. We're operating in a
way that the government and the community would want us
to be in the way that we're tackling organized crime
and gain criminal behavior. Now we have the ambition for
our communities to be safe and feel safe. I think
the gang legislation that dropped last year has had a

(01:41):
significant impact out there in terms of community feelings of safety,
and the feedback that we're getting is very positive in
that regard.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Absolutely. That was Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Basham talking to
Mike Hosking this morning. You could also look at the
rise in unemployment too and seer correlation and rising gang numbers.
Smart people know that gangs are nothing but evil pyramid scheme.
The only ones who make any money are the ones
at the top and the favored area managers, a bit

(02:10):
like neutrametics on speed. Quite literally, those at the bottom,
the ones doing the door to door selling and the
deliveries are dumb grunts who do the dirty work and
pay the price. I don't know if you followed. I
mean there are so many, but there were ten Mongrel
mob members defendants and a murder trial in Totong are
earlier this year. I mean they're prime examples of dumb grunts.

(02:34):
Google them up. I don't think I've ever seen a
more hopeless, hapless, pathetic group in my life. They are
just collectively woeful. Smart people don't join gangs, they start them.

(02:55):
So if you're someone in a small town with few
options for employment, you have few options in life, then
you might find the idea of gang life attractive. You've
got very little else going on, and your world and
your brain and your life. Being a grunt and a
gang when there is very very high unemployment and few

(03:18):
options in your town might seem attractive. But the good
news is that police are acting nine thousand charges against
the gang members since the new gang legislation was brought in.
And I don't know about you, but I am not
seeing the swaggering, posturing arrogance that I used to see

(03:38):
on the streets on the roads in my neighborhood. I
know the gangs are still operating as business as usual.
That hasn't stopped. But what has changed is that the
police are really inconveniencing them. They're making it difficult for
them to do business. The legislation means that police can

(04:03):
target gangs, they can target gang members, they can ginger
them up, annoy them, make it difficult to go about
their day to day business. I don't have to watch
the gang members in my neighborhood patched up, strutting around
the neighborhood like they own it, and that that suits me.

(04:26):
I know that they're still out there. I know that
they're still doing what they can because they think they're untouchable.
It's going to take a wee while. I mean, it
has only been eighteen months since basically they were given
the keys to cities, the keys to towns, and the
keys to the open roads. So it's going to, you know,
like we say, dumb grunts. Takes a bit of a

(04:47):
moment to shift that that idea that things have changed.
I had friends who were driving back from up North
last weekend and a hearse was being driven by a
gang member. There were some gang members driving cars on
bikes and they were blocking the new motorway North. Traffic

(05:10):
was down to about thirty or forty ks, about one
hundred cars behind them, and they were deliberately keeping the
traffic almost at a standstill while they delivered the carcass
of some dead gang member back to wherever it was going.
And there was star triple fiving all over the place.

(05:31):
One Loan police officer turned up. He was the one
in the area he had been checking for. He had
the radar gun facing the opposite direction, but clearly after
the star triple fives went out, he turned around, came
up and instead of giving the gangs the sort of
police escort they used to get, one man pulled over

(05:56):
the person driving the hearse and started to ticket them.
It was incredibly brave because there were quite a few
gang members there, so apparently a number of motor is
stopped just in case he needed assistance. But in the
past they would have let that go. In the past,
they would have perhaps driven with the hearse to make

(06:19):
sure things didn't escalate or what have you.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
Not.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
Now one Loan police officer pulled over the man driving
the hearse and traffic was allowed to speed up and
go about its business. One hundred people went inconvenience by
these weeks taking over the roads. So rising gang numbers, sure,

(06:44):
I guess if you want to see it as a
bad thing, you will. It's certainly not good that ten
thousand people feel they have little option other than to
join a gang, that life is better for them in
a gang than it is within the community. That's sad.
That's a damning indictment, but police bringing nine thousand charges

(07:11):
against gang members, it's a very good start.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
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