Special gang powers worked, says Rotorua police boss, as weapons seized
A firearm, a homemade machete, tomahawks and knuckle-dusters were among the items seized by police in Rotorua using special search powers issued to calm gang conflict.
The recent use of a temporary warrant to search gang members’ properties and vehicles worked, according to Rotorua police boss Inspector Herby Ngawhika.
Rotorua police were granted a 10-day police gang conflict warrant under the Search and Surveillance
Act after a man was shot in the leg late at night in the carpark of Te Ngae Shopping Centre on March 11.
It followed what police described as alleged “tit-for-tat” conflict between rival Mongrel Mob and Black Power gang members and associates.
The warrant allows police to search suspected gang members’ houses and vehicles without specific search warrants during times of conflict.
Ngawhika, the Rotorua police area commander, said in a statement the use of temporary powers to calm gang conflict in Rotorua had done what it aimed to — suppressed gang violence.
A gang conflict warrant under the Search and Surveillance Act was obtained for Rotorua on March 12 and ran until March 22.
A 24-year-old man was shot in the shopping centre incident the night before the warrant was issued and suffered critical leg injuries.
Police have not reported making any arrests in that case.
Ngawhika said 25 searches were carried out across the course of the warrant, resulting in five arrests, six people being summonsed for court appearances and six people warned. One firearm was seized alongside other weapons including a homemade machete, tomahawks and knuckle dusters, Ngawhika said.
“While the warrant was in place, there was very little gang activity and no reported inter-gang violence.”
The shooting came days after an alleged stabbing on March 8 at a nearby roundabout. Three people had been charged in relation to that incident. Two have denied joint charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, participating in an organised criminal group and aggravated robbery of vehicle keys and a mobile phone, along with other individual charges.
The third accused has yet to plead.
The special search powers were part of an amendment to the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 brought in by the Labour Government last year to seize weapons during times of gang conflict.
The warrants were used in Opo¯tiki ¯ last year when police were addressing Mongrel Mob and Black Power tensions following the death of Mongrel Mob Barbarians president Steven Taiatini.
Police have since charged two people, a 50-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman, with the murder of Taiatini.
Police previously alleged Taiatini was fatally struck by a vehicle on St John St in the Eastern Bay of Plenty town following a fight on June 9 last year.