Mike's Minute: The gang patch ban vs the Bill of Rights

I think the majority of us would agree that the gang patch ban, along with the renewed police attitude to gang activity, has produced a pretty successful answer to what was previously a situation with gangs where they basically ran rampant, ruined a lot of people's lives and produced untold misery in a lot of small-town New Zealand.

I note as a watcher of Parliamentary Question Time that Minister of Police Mark Mitchell is very rarely peppered with questions these days because the Opposition know they were on the wrong side of history i.e. letting gangs run wild.

Lindsay Mitchell: Sound decision from Becroft

In August last year, on the issue of banned gang patches, I wrote:

In what appears to be a first, District court judge Lance Rowe has decided to return a patch to its convicted wearer.

He came to the decision using the concept of tikanga or kinship. The court reporter detailing this decision says it "may yet be appealed by the police."

In a sound judgement High court justice Andrew Becroft has decided that gang patches cannot be returned.

Stuff reports this morning:

Bob Edlin: “Please, your honour, may I have my gang patch back?”.....

“Please, your honour, may I have my gang patch back?” And thanks to the words “dispose of”, the judge said yes

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith and Police Minister Mark Mitchell sounded triumphantly emphatic when they brayed about their crackdown on criminal gangs on November 20 last year.

They were drawing attention to a raft of new laws that would take effect that night.

Gang insignia would be banned in all public places, courts would be able to issue non-consorting orders, and Police would be able to stop criminal gang members from associating and communicating.

Lindsay Mitchell: Judge undermines government intent

The National coalition government banned the wearing of gang patches in public places in November 2024.

The legislation states:

Kerre Woodham: What's caused the drop in ram raids?

Ram raids are down more than 80% for the month of April, compared to last year. Police have identified 12 ram raids in April 2024, compared to 64 in April 2023. Sixty-four! That wasn't even the highest. There was a peak in August 2022 when there were 86 ram raids. There was a total of 433 ram raids in 2022, 288 in 2023, and 67 in the first four months of this year.

To what can we attribute the drop in ram raids?