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Veteran Black Power member and community worker Denis O’Reilly says official policy still confuses gangs with organised crime.
Police Minister Judith Collins has launched a new assault on gang life, including the formation of a gang intelligence centre that will collate data from across government.
Mr O’Reilly says while the approach seems aimed at the Maori gangs that have been a feature of New Zealand life for the past four decades, the term gang can span everything from young hooligans at the mall to organised criminal conspiracies.
He says Minister Collins is justifying her initiative by citing methamphetamine.
"The methamphetamine trade is a function of our free trade deal with China and currently at our borders we're only examining 10 percent of all the containers that come in so yes, we've got another methamphetamine problem at the moment that is supply driven, but when you see who it is that gets arrested for brining methamphetamine in, there's no Hemi's or Hori's there. They're more likely to be names similar to those that Judith might meet at a fundraising dinner," Mr O’Reilly says.
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