Police call in extra help
Recent violent incidents have hallmarks of intra-gang activity, district boss says
Thirty extra officers have been called to Southland as police deal with a homicide investigation and a serious assault.
Southern police district commander Superintendent Paul Basham was in Invercargill yesterday and was joined by Assistant Police Commissioner Sandra Venables.
Basham, who will tour Southland police stations with Venables, said some violent activity experienced in the past few months had all the hallmarks of intra-gang activity.
Southland police have three current homicide investigations, two teenagers were shot at an Invercargill house on January 31, and there was a serious assault involving two men in eastern Southland.
Despite the workload, Basham said: ‘‘We’ve got 600 police officers that work in this district. We’re well resourced and we can cope.’’
Thirty extra police officers came to Southland to assist while the serious violence incidents were being investigated, Basham said.
‘‘When you get isolated incidents of behaviour, that’s often happening intra-gang . . . Sometimes that might create the [impression] that there are large numbers of gang members in our communities or in the community in Southland,’’ Basham said. ‘‘I’m not sure that that’s the case.’’
There seemed to be more methamphetamine in society than a few years ago, Basham said.
Organised crime was responsible for meth, some gangs were a subset of organised crime, and ‘‘certainly that’s what we’re noticing down here, in that regard we’re no different to the rest of the country’’, Basham said.
Mongrel Mob and Black Power are well established in Southland, but from time to time there has been the presence of King Cobras, Tribesmen and Head Hunters.
‘‘It’s this really unpredictable explosive cocktail that we’ll see blow up from time to time.’’
Methamphetamine had been the common denominator in gang violence in the lower South Island since 2018, Basham said, whether that be territory disputes or because underlying addiction and health issues were compounded by use of the drug.
Invercargill organised crime investigators clearly had the Mongrel Mob and other gangs in their sights, Basham said.
There was a really experienced criminal investigation branch in Southland, he said, ‘‘probably one of the most experienced offices in the country’’.
‘‘I would say to any person thinking about committing a crime here in Southland, particularly in Invercargill: Think again, because you’re going to get caught.’’
A Resilience to Organised Crime in Communities programme was an important step in reducing gang activity, Basham said.