New Zealanders are banned from displaying gang symbols as a new law comes into effect

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A ban on New Zealanders wearing or displaying gang insignia in public took effect Thursday, with police officers making the first arrest for breaking the law three minutes later.

The man was driving with gang insignia displayed on his car’s dashboard, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers told 1News.

The ban on displaying gang insignia anywhere outside private homes, including on clothing or in vehicles, is among a number of new measures aimed at strengthening police powers to disrupt gangs. Wearing or displaying the insignia of 35 listed gangs will now attract a fine of up to NZ$5,000 ($2,940) or up to six months in jail.

New Zealand’s centre-right government, which has promised before last October’s elections to tackle gang crime, says the measures will reduce the number of members of groups responsible for violence and drug-related crime. But detractors say the law infringes on civil liberties and could drive gang activity underground.

“Gangs are not community groups. I’m not a Rotary club,” Prime Minister Christopher Luxon wrote on social media on Thursday. “They thrive by destroying the lives of other New Zealanders, either through drug trafficking or through brutal acts of violence that leave communities in fear.”

Under the new law, officers can also break up public gatherings of three or more members, ban gang members from associating with each other and enter the homes of those who continue to break the law to search for banned items. Gang membership will now be taken into account by courts when sentencing criminals.

Police Minister Mark Mitchell told reporters on Thursday that two people were arrested within hours of the law taking effect for wearing gang “patches”, which are large insignia often worn by gang members on the backs of leather jackets or vests. The government says the patches are intimidating because members must earn them through violent acts.

The measures shift New Zealand’s response to gangs closer to that of neighboring Australia, which also uses a law to suppress the public visibility of gangs, and away from jurisdictions such as the US and Britain, which use criminal law to respond to some activities carried out by organized crime groups, according to a report released by Treasury officials in February.

Facial tattoos displaying gang insignia are exempt from the ban, as is wearing gang colors. The government has been criticized by some for not including white supremacist groups in its list of 35 organizations targeted by the new law. This means displaying swastikas and Nazi salutes remain legal in New Zealand – unlike Australia, which banned both in a law that came into force in January.

There are almost 9,400 people on a New Zealand police list of known gang members. The population of New Zealand is 5 million.

Successive governments have promised to tackle criminal gangs, which are often linked to poverty and other deprivation. The previous center-left government was condemned by Luxon’s administration for working with gangs on social initiatives, including COVID-19 vaccination efforts, while the current government has been denounced for promoting policies that could attract some of New Zealand’s most marginalized groups, including indigenous Maori.

Official reports say three quarters of those on the national gang list are Maori, who make up less than 20 per cent of New Zealanders, and that 80 per cent to 90 per cent of those in two of the most notorious gangs are former state puppets.

Luxury made a formal apology this month for widespread abuse of children and vulnerable adults in state care for the past seven decades.