Police Minister Chris Hipkins says he is looking at what other changes and resources the police may need in order to tackle the escalation in gang violence.
Chris Hipkins took over as Police Minister in a Cabinet reshuffle just over a week ago, and he has admitted the government needs to do more to tackle violent crime.
Police Minister Chris Hipkins hopes to announce a new set of measures to help police cope with rising gang tensions in a few weeks. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The minister told Morning Report he has met with new Justice Minister Kiri Allen to discuss whether they have got the legal settings right and to determine what more the government could do.
He said it was clear there has been an escalation of gang tension in recent times.
While he was unable to announce any specifics, he said the Firearms Prohibitions Orders (preventing dangerous gang members from having guns) was going through the select committee stage at present and the government was reviewing whether the police needed some additional powers.
"We're aiming to progress that very quickly."
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Asked if the measures related to search warrants, he said it would be practical measures that he hoped to announce within a few weeks.
Hipkins has met with Police Commissioner Andrew Coster several times already as well as a dedicated team in Auckland that was tackling the problem of rising gang violence.
"We do need to look really closely at making sure the police have got all the tools to be able to combat that. I think people have a right to feel safe in their communities and an increase in gang tension is having an impact on that."
Hipkins denied that the government had slipped up on being tough on gangs although he agreed that the problems had deteriorated in the last 18 months.
"And it's clear that the deportees from Australia - that policy from Australia has really started to bite and have more of an impact in the last little while."
As for the return of the armed response teams or more general arming of police, Hipkins told Morning Report police had the discretion to judge the risk and to arm themselves if necessary.
He defended delays in establishing the new firearms legislation.
He said the Firearms Prohibitions Orders Bill was going through the select committee process at present and he did not believe it had been drawn out.
It was important that law abiding gun owners were not unfairly hamstrung through the legislation.
There have been a lot of changes to firearm laws in recent years and extra care was required.
Hipkins said he had been studying some of the new laws introduced in various states in Australia and he would be talking more with some of their officials.
Some measures had proved more effective than others and he was keen to see what had and hadn't worked.
"There are examples from Australia where laws that were designed to tackle gangs have ultimately ended up being been used on people who weren't involved in gang activity and that's something that I think we want to try and avoid."
Hipkins acknowledged there were some underlying issues around youth crime and firearms laws - "tricky issues" that he was looking forward to being involved in.
