Mark Mitchell: Police Minister on the gang conflict warrants in Hawkes Bay

The Hawkes Bay has seen three shootings in 48 hours as gang conflicts heat up. 

A gang conflict warrant has been invoked 26 times since Thursday, leading to eight arrests.

Police Minister Mark Mitchell talks to Mike Hosking about the conflict. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Got gang trouble in Hawk's Bay. A gang conflict warrant
has been in about twenty six times since Thursday, which
has led to eight to rest. It's the mong via
the Black Power, three shootings and forty eight hours if
you can believe at the police, Minister Mark Mitchell with
it's very good morning, good onding, Mike. So the response
so far in its effect on these gang conflict warrants,
do they work?

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yeah? Absolutely, And look you know the police both in
Tairafi and in the Eastland Police, they're outstanding at getting
on top of the gangs. Obviously there's been a bit
of conflict based on wire and they've responded quickly and
getting on top of it.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Does it build or is it just explode?

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Sometimes it can build. It can be just one incident
that sort of starts to build tension between the gangs.
The real hea of it. You know, us as a
government have said that we're not going to tolerate that anymore.
So the expectations is this police. There's quick and decisive
police action and that's exactly what's happened here.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Are you disappointed that you've still got to use these warrants,
that these people are still going out and shooting each
other and they haven't got the message or are they
just beyond them?

Speaker 2 (01:00):
No, I hate it. I mean me personally, I hate it.
When I was my own police and career, when I
was in Gismond as a dog can and I was
often sent down to war or to help deal with
this stuff, and it's tough, very tough on the community.
We've obviously got a zero tolerance from it as government,
and we're working on starting suppressing get rid of it
in our country, but it just takes time.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Have you got the resource on the coast, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
They have got the resource. I was thinking about that
actually in the last couple of days and just talking.
I hate talking about when I was in the job,
but I do remember going down there. There was myself
and the senior sergeant to deal with they again a
situation where they connect to young girls and we're raping them.
There was two of us to deal with it with
about thirty game members. So with our police are in

(01:40):
a much better position now. They do have the numbers,
they have the powers, they're asserting themselves outstanding leadership. Like
I said, down there, they're doing a great job.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Good this investigation that you'll be aware of this morning.
The police have launched into this. Allegedly you're letting people
through without the fitness test. Is this true?

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Look that is in terms of has there been any
pressure from the government, there's been a very clear target
set by the government and the funding and the support provided.
There's definitely no interference around standards that is operational effect,
quite the opposite. Both myself and Casey Costello, who both
were police officers, ourselves are very adamant about the attention
of standards and I find it a bit rich hearing

(02:19):
the Labor Party come out when in twenty seventeen they
dropped the swimming standard, they dropped standards around low level
offenses drink driving and drugs offenses. That meant that seventeen
percent of applicants went through instead of nine percent. Have
we haven't dropped any standards at all. We've been adamant
about the fact that we don't want to do that.

(02:39):
You know, we've we've got a world class police service.
It's important that we retain that. But you know, obviously
there was three that went through that hadn't reached the
fitness standard. The police are looking at that and that's
the right thing to do.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
If there's more than three, have we got a scandal?

Speaker 2 (02:54):
No, not at all. I just think that. I mean,
like I said under labor, which by the way, I
at the time said, look, they shouldn't be doing that.
They dropped the swimming standard, and they said the reason
why they dropped it is because they trained them at college.
They'd get them up to speed at college. So you
know there's precedent for that. We don't want to do that.
We've been very clear that we don't want to drop standards.

(03:15):
Every conversation that I've had with the executive, I've been
very clear about that. I know, like I said to you,
when I joined myself, I didn't know. I had to
learn how to type, which meant that helped me find someone.
I went out and I learned how to type, so I.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Could I having seen all of that, though, if they
have been let through, who would have let them through?
And how does this happen?

Speaker 2 (03:34):
I don't know that that will be on a ground level.
So they'll go back and they'll have a look at that.
But the one thing I did want to say, Mike
is that there's lots of people. There's police officers all
around the country that are trying to recruit out of
their own communities, and they identifying young people as they
come through school and they're giving them additional help to
make sure that they do reach those standards. They're doing

(03:54):
outstanding work. So you've got three cases here. The police
have said they'll go back and have a look at it,
but you know from my experience getting around the country,
they're doing a really good job and identifying good applicants
in a strong popeline of people coming into the police.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Appreciate your time. See you Wednesday, Mark Mitchell Police Ministry.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
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