Paul Basham: Police Assistant Commissioner on the preparations for the gang patch ban coming taking effect

Police units around the country will be taking a proactive approach to the Government's new gang patch ban. 

Patches and insignia will be banned in public places from Thursday next week. 

Police Assistant Commissioner Paul Basham says Police have been speaking with gang leaders, and have made it clear that anyone breaching the law can expect a response. 

He told Mike Hosking that dedicated units will respond to reports of law-breaking, gather intelligence, and work with other branches of Police. 

He says they'll also take opportunities to reduce the ability of gangs to operate, and cause fear and intimidation. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So as the laws around gangs change in a bit
over a week, that's your gang patches, signs and signia
and public places, all of that sort of stuff, it
becomes illegal. The police have disruption units really to go
as part of the new nationwide scheme Operation Nickel in
Operation Nickel National Control of Paul Basham's with us. Paul,
Morning to you, Good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
About how big is the resource, Well, it's for the
whole police resource with a national gang units in the
king Disruption units, which is circa one hundred police officers.
But it's much bigger than that because we will bring
effect from the twenty first of November, which will be
a whole police approach to Operation Nickel.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
So you've got to Bobby on the beat just doing
this thing, and then all of a sudden he sees
the gang goes right, we're into Operation Nickel. Is that
how it works?

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Definitely. We've been spending the last six months, you know,
intensively preparing for the legislation dropping on the twenty first,
the whole of the stuff that had to happen in
the background to enable the effect, training and ICT and
all that sort of stuff. But more importantly we've been
out engaging with various parties and interested groups to sort
of really project that certainty of enforcement from the twenty
first of November. So we've spent quite a bit of

(01:08):
time so educating and encouraging and projecting that from the
twenty first of November of people in breach of the
law as it relates to this legislation, and we're living.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Just unfold quite at the morning. Was it four hundred
or four thousand meetings?

Speaker 2 (01:25):
No, not four thousand, that would be by ambitious, but
we had a list of around four hundred and twenty
four hundred and fifty meetings to try and do up
and down the country, you know, and furtherance of that
educate and courage of their engagement peace. We've done pretty
much most of that, and you know, the purpose of
that was a number of things, encourage, educate, but also

(01:46):
to be projecting that kind of organizational posture which is
inlign with the government's priorities and the commisioners priorities, which is,
if you break the law from the twenty fifths, then
we will move to enforcement and it'll be pretty black
and white in that posture.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
How proactive versus reactive are you're going to be.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, the whole point of establishing the game disruption units
across the twelfth districts is to still step into that
proactive posture. So you know, it's inevitable that you know,
we will be responding to reports of gangs breaking the law,
but you know, in addition to that, those units will
be proactive, getting intelligence, looking to work with other police
units and taking opportunities to sort of fill their mandate

(02:30):
which is in line with the purpose of the act,
which is to reduce the ability of gangs to operate
and to cause fear and indimidation and disruption by the public.
So as units really clear in terms of what the
purpose is end from the twenty first of November, they'll
be into it. And I think too, you know, you'll
see them, you know, sharpening their tradecraft and their skills

(02:51):
relative to the provisions of this legislation. And so we
deferred as an awesome tool to allow us to continue
to work that we do pretty much from the other
country every day anyway, in a way that we pluss.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
The gigs good stuff. Well, I think most of New
Zealand's probably on your side on this one. Paul Besham,
who's the police Assistant Commissioner and Operation to Coal National
Corole Controller. For more from the mic Asking Breakfast, listen
live to news talks. It'd be from six am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio