New Zealand gang recruits grow by 13% this year, police data shows
New Zealand gang recruits grow by 13% this year, police data shows
Gang incidents earlier this year saw Police armed in Tauranga. (Photo / NZ Herald)
New Zealand gang recruits grow by 13% this year, police data shows
Police believe almost 900 people joined a gang this year, a 13 per cent increase on the year before.
Police data shows they have identified a little over 7000 people as belonging to a gang, although the number is likely higher.
Notably, a number of gang members with New Zealand ties have been deported from Australia. They are known as 501s, referring to the legislation underpinning the deportations.
Local chapters have sprung up of the Mongols, Bandidos and the Comancheros. Detective Sergeant Ray Sunkel said the Australian imports are harder and bring a more violent mindset. Following arrests targeting the Mongols motorbike gang in Bay of Plenty earlier this year, community advocate and lifetime Black Power member Dennis O Reilly said that gangs like the Mongols, established by people deported from Australia, operated on an entirely different basis to the gangs New Zealanders were accustomed to seeing. They re all New Zealanders by dint of having been exported here under 501, but they re not playing the game, he said. Police have admitted they are facing challenges in fighting organised crime and gangs.