Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Is it really the Government's fault the gang numbers cracked the 10,000 mark?

You know that story about the gang numbers cracking the 10,000 mark? That's classic gotcha politics, isn't it?

It doesn't count when the number is 9,999, but once it hits 10,000 - or in this case, 10,009 - it's a thing, and it's the Government's fault.

Is it the Government's fault though? I mean, should we actually be angry at Mark Mitchell for this one? I don't think so.

I think that what we're seeing right now is the result of stuff that has already happened, mainly- with the deportation of criminals from Australia and the recession that we're in.

Recessions lead to an increase in crime for obvious reasons, and the deportation of serious criminals will lead to an increase in gang numbers - probably for a while yet actually - until the likes of the Comancheros and any other heavy outfit that's been brought here from Australia has maxed out its recruitment drive in New Zealand.

I think it's highly ironic that Ginny Andersen is the one moaning about this. Do you need me to remind you of Ginny Andersen?

Ginny Andersen was one of Labour's run of Police Ministers who totally took their foot off the throat of the gangs when they were in power. Ginny Andersen was the Police Minister at the time that the gang was basically allowed to take over Opotiki for the tangi. Remember that?

At least under this Government and this particular Police Minister, police have been given the understanding that they are to crack down on gangs. 

There have been a huge number of arrests. There are no gang tangi taking over small town roads anymore and there are no gang patches. Laura, the producer, lives out in West Auckland. She reckons she used to see a gang patch every single day, but doesn't see them now. None at all.

Now, it doesn't mean that the gang members are gone. You can still see them around the place, they just walk around in their colours, you know, without the patches.

Just look for someone wearing an unusual amount of primary colour red. That generally denotes a Mongrel Mob member. Look for somebody with a lot of yellow going on, that's generally somebody from the Comancheros. Lots of primary blue, that'll be your Black Power there.

I saw one in his gang colours in Bunnings the other day. But at least they do not have the belief that they can walk around intimidating good people in public places because they don't have their patch on - and them being stripped of that belief actually counts for a lot.

Now, I'm not happy the gang numbers have gone up, but they have. And I expect they're gonna keep going up for a while until this economy turns around and the pool of recruits available to the Aussie imports starts drying up.

That is not the fault of this Government and it is also not the fault of this Police Minister. And what counts for a lot more is at least these gangs are being cracked down on now.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now you know that story about the gang numbers cracking
the ten thousand mark. That's classic gotcha politics, isn't It
doesn't count when the number is nine, nine hundred and
ninety nine, But once it hits ten thousand, or in
this case, ten thousand and nine, it's a thing and
it's the government's fault. Is it the government's fault? Though?
I mean, should we actually be angry at Mark Mitchell
for this one? I don't think so. I think of

(00:21):
what we're seeing right now is the result of stuff
that has already happened, mainly the deportation of criminals from
Australia and the recession that we're in. Recessions lead to
an increase in crime for obvious reasons, and the deportation
of serious criminals will lead to an increase in gang numbers,
probably for a while yet, actually, until the likes of
the Common Chiros and any other heavy outfit that's been
brought here from Australia has maxed out its recruitment drive

(00:45):
in New Zealand. I think it's highly ironic that Ginny
Anderson is the one moaning about this. Do you need
me to remind you of Ginny Anderson? Ginny Anderson was
one of Labour's run of police ministers who totally took
their foot off the throat of the gangs when they
are in power. Idion was the police minister at the
time that the gang was basically allowed to take over
or porticky for the tonguey. Remember that at least under

(01:07):
this government, in this particular police minister, police have been
given the understanding that they are to crack down on gangs.
There have been a huge number of arrests. There are
no gang tonguies taking over small town roads anymore. There
are no gang patches. Laura, the producer, lives out in
west Auckland. She reckons she used to see a gang
patch every single day. Doesn't see them now, none at all.
Now it doesn't mean that the gang members are gone.

(01:29):
I mean you can still see them around the place.
They just walk around in their colors, you know, without
the patch. Just look for someone wearing an unusual amount
of primary color red that generally donates among gr OLB member.
Look for somebody with a lot of yellow going on.
That's generally somebody from the common chio's lots of primary blue.
That'll be a black power there. I saw one in
his gang colours and Bunnings the other day. But at

(01:51):
least they do not have the belief that they can
walk around intimidating good people in public places because they
don't have their patch on. And them being stripped of
that belief acttion counts for a lot. Now. I'm not
happy the gang numbers have gone up, but they have
and I expect they're going to keep going up for
a while until this economy turns around and the pool
of recruits available to the Aussie import starts drying up.

(02:13):
That is not the fault of this government and is
also not the fault of this police minister. And what
counts for a lot more is at least these gangs
are being cracked down on. Now. For more from Heather
Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news Talks. It'd be
from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio