Police Minister says record high gang numbers 'highly concerning'

1News

4 days ago

For the first time, the number of patched gang members and gang prospects has surpassed 10,000 — with Police Minister Mark Mitchell acknowledging the figure is highly concerning.
The number of gang members has been steadily growing in recent years.
There were 9270 gang members on the National Gang List at the time of the 2023 election. As of July 10, there were 10,009 — an increase of more than 700 gang members and associates. The National Gang List counted patched members and prospects identified by state agencies.
Police officer numbers are failing to keep up with the national gang member list, Benedict Collins reports. (Source: 1News)
Mitchell told 1News today that the Government's tough on crime policies were working and gang numbers were now growing more slowly.
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"We're going after the gangs, we're making their life as difficult as possible," he said.
He repeatedly blamed the rising gang numbers on the previous Labour-led government and their policies.
"We're not going to reverse what happened under Labour [for] six years, where you saw a massive increase in gang numbers.
"We're heading in the right direction."
In an answer to a Parliamentary written question, however, Mitchell acknowledged the issue was alarming.
"I acknowledge that it is highly concerning to see gang membership grow to this level."
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Labour's police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said the Prime Minister and his Government were failing to make New Zealanders safer.
"Not only have gang numbers increased but methamphetamine levels have skyrocketed under their watch," she said.
However, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today maintained his Government was "smashing the gangs".
"I'm proud of the progress that we've made, I mean putting the gang patches [ban] in place — many people said that couldn't be done."
Criminologist Jarrod Gilbert said the gang patch ban may actually be leading to an undercount of gang members now.
"We can't identify the gangs anymore because insignia has been banned so, perversely ,we might see numbers come down on this list, it's not reflective of anything that's happening on the street it's just that the gangs are more invisible."
When in opposition, the National Party repeatedly attacked the previous Labour government over rising gang numbers.
Data from the Police Minister's office shows that when Labour came to power in 2017 there were 5343 individuals on the National Gang List. By the 2023 election, there were 9270 — an increase of nearly 4000 over six years.