sparkywater

I have read quite a bit recently about the gang problem in New Zealand. Is it a national problem or just in the major towns?

kiwi_child

Ok Let me give you a bit of a rundown from my 30+ years of living in NZ.

Firstly you need to make the distinction between bikie (motorcycle) gangs and street gangs (use cars, public transport etc).

Bikie gangs (highway 61, hell's angels, epitaph riders, etc etc) in general will have no interest in hassling you or your teenage kids. Basic deal is you don't annoy or harrass them, then you are of no interest to them. They are happy to just get on with their own scene. Even if they are in a pub you're drinking at, it's unlikely there would be a problem.

Street gangs ( mongrel mob, black power, etc) are a whole different ballgame, especially mongrel mob. A lot of them are disenchanted maori youth (teens to 30s) who will intimidate people, standover them etc if you cross their domain (pub they drink at, mall [or part of CBD] they hang around, etc). Usually they use numbers to scare people, but even saying this, there are plenty of mongrel mob and black power members who do not go around hassling joe citizen. It's the younger more arrogant members or associates/prospects that are more likely to do that crap.

Yes these gangs can be national in that they have chapters in regional/provincial areas as well as major cities. The thing to remember though is that the vast majority of Kiwis never have any kind of run in with them. If you are concerned then do your research; eg don't choose the cheapest parts of a city to live in, ask locals about good pubs, areas, what/where to avoid etc

I don't want to appear racist here, as I have always had maori friends, but until you get to know a few people, it's probably best to stick to places that are frequented by a majority of pakehas (whites). Most maori are fine, but until you have sussed the local scene out, it's best (even just for your peace of mind) to be a little conservative.

phil01

Hi,

I have been here a year and not come across any gangs quite sure there are many others of us that have not come across any either....and yes I drink in the pubs, shop in town and live presently in a rented house that is considered to be the rough bit, mainly populated by Maori, but I have found them to be quite friendly.

Hotpots

Which parts of NZ do the street gangs frequent?

It would be ironic to leave the UK for a better standard of living and end up in a worse situation particularly with a teengae son.

The headline of our local paper this week was the young girl hit and run (murder) at a party in Christchurch. The family moved from Burnley for a safer life 5 years ago.

sparkywater

Realy useful many thanks

happynz

Sad that. It happened around the corner from where I live. I wouldn't consider my neighbourhood dangerous. It seems to have been the sort of tragedy that could have happened in any Kiwi neighbourhood. The problem is as I see it is bored youth, binge-drinking, access to cars and an excess of teenage testosterone.

karonious

Every part is the short answer. There are gangs in just about every town in NZ. They're not all on the scale of Black Power or Mongrel Mob, but they are about.

Here in Hamilton we have MM and BP around, but we also have the youth or dispossessed who can't get into a 'main-stream gang, and have now decided to copy America and run in either the 'Bloods' or the 'Crips', which I believe have also spread around a large part of NZ (we've even got the really desperate ones who have formed the 'East Side' and 'West Side' gangs...so desperate they couldn't think of a name past the part of the town they were in!)

I see them all the time in my job, but also in my neighbourhood. However, it seems that you either have to be in a rival gang or have some gang connection, or be really flaunting just how rich you are, before they will bother you. And while I agree that many, in fact possibly the majority, are Maori, there are also Pakhea, Somalian, Tongan and Asian members...unfortunately the population in the majority of the gang stronghold areas is predominantly Maori, so they're an easy target. It also seems to be a generational thing and, like has been said by kiwi_child, the older members may have had enough and want out, and be trying to keep their kids out, but the kids want the 'respect' they've seen they're dads, uncles and big brothers receive, so of course they're going to do it all again.

Don't sweat it...if you're not part of the gang culture, you're unlikely to be affected by it.

Stevie B..(logged on as the missus to hide my Identity...oh bugger!)

StevieB

Let's see how you like it :curse:
You ara a bad boy: now DON"T do it again

(Karonious logged on as StevieB)

Magnum

The Gang culture in NZ is surprising though. It's not a densely populated country. It's very beautiful with an abundance of open spaces. Not exactly ideal Gangland territory

Avid

Well....that's partly the image NZ understandably wants to present to the world. An advertising campaign based on pictures of Milford Sound is going to do a lot better than one of children being shot.

It's mainly poverty and a sense of hopelessness that lead to gangs, not just living in cities.

happynz

There are other variables involved, but I think those are the main reasons.

Magnum

People are poor in the Maldives and lots of other countries but they don't form organised criminal gangs. The extent of gang organisation in NZ is out of proportion to the population which makes me think this is more of a Maori cultural/tribal issue.

happynz

That's not the case in Christchurch. Much of the havoc here is caused by bored drunken Pakeha toe-rags. But yeah...

kiwi_child

I have to disagree. I have knowledge from personal experience about the workings of Maori gangs, and believe me there is no connection to or respect for Maoritanga in it at all. Infact its far more to do with a sense of a lack identity and power in a society that fails to engage it's younger citizens with hope and support and self esteem. A lack of education and desire to achieve is also part of the mix. These are factors that occur worldwide in the gang phenomena, not just among NZ Maori.

It has become fashionable to be politically correct and to place maoritanga on some type of pedestal as a sign of remorse for past mistreatment of maori. There were virtually no street gangs in NZ in the 1960s.

The name mongrel mob came about from a judge in wellington referring to a group of maori youth (many of whom were blood relatives) as 'a pack of mongrels'.

Black power is a simple variation on the US Black panthers (which was a militant group in the 60s US civil rights movement).

As for these new groups (of which i know little), the fact they ahve taken their names from US gangs also speaks heaps to me.

kiwi_child

IMO this is fanciful stuff brought on by a few academics in the 70s. Maori have never been disenfranchised by the way Aboriginals in Australia have been , and in their own land. And NO Maori are NOT the original occupiers of NZ.