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The laws sparked by gang warfare

Blair Jackson blair.jackson@stuff.co.nz

Gang members were beaten on sight, skinheads made their presence felt on the main street, and pads were targetted with bombs.

Invercargill’s violent and patchwork gang scene of the 1980s and ‘90s is detailed in new research by gang expert Dr Jarrod Gilbert, published in May.

His research Making Gang Laws in a Panic, Lessons from the 1990s and beyond assessed the legislative changes made at the time to curb gang violence.

He says, the genesis for anti-gang legislation during that time was sparked by violent offences during two gang wars in Christchurch and Invercargill.

The laws which were created or changed are: The Harassment Bill (1997), and amendments to the Crimes Act (1961), the Criminal Justice Act (1985), the Local Government Act (1974), the Misuse of Drugs Act (1975), the Summary Offences Act (1981) and the Telecommunications Act (1987).

Gilbert said he commended the Invercargill police for their work when tensions were highest.

‘‘He [former Southland police district commander Neville Cook] and his team were very effective at policing an incredibly difficult situation and brought it under control in a relatively short amount of time.’’

Cook remembered the influx of ethnic-gangs, Black Power and later the Mongrel Mob, as causing friction with established bikie gangs.

‘‘The bikies were locals and we knew them. But when Mongrel Mob and Black Power came in they were not locals and had no interest in having a relationship with police,’’ Cook said.

‘‘Blips’’ of activity got police attention, Cook said, like car rammings on Esk St.

‘‘We would have a clean-up and that would quieten things down for a while until they were released from prison,’’ Cook said.

Black Power took over Lithgow St in Glengarry, ‘‘committing mayhem’’, smashing street lights as quick as they could be replaced as a cloak for drugs, prostitution and assorted crime, he said.

Cook did not recall the direct effects of the new laws, but said ‘‘the same old’’ serious assaults, possession of stolen property and firearms offending carried on.

By the late 1990s ‘‘all the bikies were in jail’’ which allowed Black Power to establish itself in Invercargill, and later for the

Mongrel Mob to establish in Mataura, Cook said.

Gilbert’s research recounts Invercargill’s gang scene in 1983 when the British Motorcycle Club splintered into the Damned and a chapter of the Road Knights.

Road Knights killed at least two Damned members in the 1980s, Gilbert says, and the former took ascendency.

In the mid-1990s Black Power tried to establish an Invercargill chapter, sparking tension with the all-white Road Knights.

Early in 1996, the Road Knights ‘‘tried to end the war quickly’’ by attempting to bomb Black Power’s headquarters. The bomb did not to explode, but a series of shotgun blasts destroyed a car window at the Black Power address, Gilbert says.

A skinhead group called Bandenkrieg made nightly appearances on Invercargill’s main street, as Black Power members were attacked on sight and their vehicles rammed.

In The Southland Times on March 14, 1996, Cook said: ‘‘Police can do nothing if gangs behave, which the Black Power members have been careful to do up until now. Remember too who started this present round of violence . . . the Road Knights and their supporters, all of whom come from within this community.’’ The Road Knights claimed the attacks against Black Power were defensive.

A member of Black Power was shot in the head and injured in April 1996 while driving near the Road Knights’ headquarters.

Then Invercargill mayor David Harrington presented a petition to Parliament that month calling for more police powers to prevent gang clashes.

A Government Select Committee began looking at the issue, as similar violent incidents were happening in Christchurch.

Gilbert says law changes were originally bundled together, and moved through parliament and the Select Committee process, as the Harassment and Criminal Associations Bill.

The bills were later split into new laws and amendments before going to parliament for the final reading, Gilbert says. ‘‘On face value at least, the proposed measures were the most wide-ranging legislative attack on gangs that the country had ever attempted,’’ Gilbert says.

‘‘Away from the political spotlight, the laws were given sober analysis and scrutiny by a number of groups, and were questioned as to their necessity, their potential for efficacy and their impact on liberties and human rights.’’

Ultimately, Gilbert concludes political rhetoric escalated the issues away from evidence and rationality, and led to a rushed legislative response that did not meaningfully tackle the issues.

‘‘On face value at least, the proposed measures were the most wideranging legislative attack on gangs that the country had ever attempted.’’ Dr Jarrod Gilbert Gang expert

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