Force no answer —police chief

Press, 11 August 1979, Page 6

Force no answer —police chief

PA " “ Wellington The gang problem cannot be eliminated by force, the Commissioner of Police (Mr R. J. Walton) said in his annual report to Parliament yesterday. Whatever short-term gains there might be from using force, the long-term results would be greater disorder. “Harassment could also convert a gang problem into i a racial one, and there are some who would exploit this situation to their own ends. “It must never be overlooked that any group can assemble provided it acts within the law,” said Mr Walton. Mr Walton said that in spite of preventive and enforcement efforts by the police, the gang problem would not disappear overnight and would continue to be one of the top priorities for the police for some time. “Every endeavour is being made to keep the lid on the problem while remedial social action is being implemented,” he said.

Violence showed little sign of abating and in the context of gang confrontation was growing in size and intensity. The worst features were the increased carrying and use of guns and other weapons. Gangs were not a recent phenomenon. In the last decade it was mainly motorcycle gangs which had attracted police attention, he said.

“These gangs are still about but last year saw the rise of Maori gangs involved in confrontation with other Maori gangs.”

Mr Walton said the police had a well defined policy in dealing with gang members who broke the law. “They are dealt with firmly but fairly, like any other lawbreaker,” he said. Sometimes as many as 600 gang members from different parts of New Zealand converged on a town for a convention, he said. “The police strategy to counter any possible disorder is quite complex both in its! planning and execution, requiring the rapid and simultaneous deployment of police from many parts of the country to sparsely populated areas.” In the last year there had been a number of sporadic but violent confrontations between rival gangs. In the period from December 22 last year to January 13 this year, police shadow patrols monitored the activities of over 1000 gang members and made 146 arrests, said Mr Walton. At Easter, 119 gang members were arrested.

“Police shadow patrols are used for surveillance of travelling gangs and teampolicing units deployed to contain gang concentrations, especially when a confrontation between two gangs is imminent. On one such occasion 76 were arrested.”

The president of the police Association (Mr A. Monk), who has returned from talks in Australia, thinks New Zealand should reconsider arming its police. He has attended the first conference of the Combined Police Federation of New Zealand and Australia, of

which he was elected junior vice-president. At the conference Australian delegates called for all operational police to be effectively armed with guns to be worn on the hip outside the uniform. The New Zealand police were excluded from the arms resolution at Mr Monk’s request. After last week’s violence in Northland, he is not sure if he made the right decision. “We have to reconsider our situation in the light of the growing trend of violence. We must be able to carry out our lawful duties. Criminals in society do not play by any rules,” Mr Monk said. The National Youth Council says that gangs are a response by young people to deep-seated social problems within society which changes in the law and increased police powers will do little to alleviate.

In a memorandum circulated to all members of Parliament yesterday, the council said it was concerned about the lack of preventive action in regard to youth involvement in crime.

It blames unemployment as a major contributor to the present “unrest.”

“Unless there is positive action taken to provide work for young people, we will, no doubt, see more violent clashes such as that which occurred in Northland recently,” the council says.

Its memorandum outlines 16 proposals of “positive action” by the Government in the areas of unemployment, education, and preventive work.