Eastern District Police are enforcing the Government’s new Gangs Legislation Act, by becoming the only region with two dedicated Gang Disruption Units — one in Hawke’s Bay and another in Tairāwhiti.
Detective Senior Sergeant James Keene heads both teams, with a clear focus: enforce the law while maintaining respectful engagement with gang-affiliated individuals.
“Eastern District in particular has a high gang population. We have just under 1,200 patched gang members within the district,” said Keene.
The Hui joined the Hastings-based team for a day as they sought to confiscate a single piece of gang insignia clothing, the subject had allegedly breached the new law.
The Gangs Act introduced in November last year by the government prohibits wearing gang insignia in public and breaches can lead to arrest.
Tips come into the unit from a variety of sources including from the public, security staff, and police patrols.
Despite expectations, gang members have largely complied with the law, which Keene attributes to early engagement and education with gang leaders.
“Due to our engagement teams getting in front of gang leaders and providing education on the legislation coming in prior to November last year. It was pretty clear direction, that the police were going to be out there enforcing the new laws.”
Flaxmere community leader Henare O’Keefe is unconvinced the law is creating meaningful change.
“Nothing’s changed really, you know, it’s just life as per usual. I’d like to say yes, it has made a big change, but with a hand on heart, I can’t say it hasn’t.”
“We’re not going to legislate our way out of this, out of any form of social ills,” he said.
Eastern District’s Gang Whānau Engagement Team also plays a key role, working with the wider whānau, especially rangatahi.
“We’ve always enforced the law and we know where we’ve ended up as a consequence of that. So there’s really an opportunity for us to think, okay, how can we engage?” said Inspector Damin Ormsby.
“We don’t want anyone getting arrested, we don’t want them in our police cells, and we don’t want them going through the courts either.
“Often our job is an enforcement job, but we also have another role to play in society and that’s to help people out and that is the reality of what we do,” Ormsby added.
“The group is set up to disrupt gangs, that’s in the name of the group, but at the same time we offer support where we can.”
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