OFF THE WIRE
A leading New Zealand gang expert who attended the Hells Angels' 50th birthday celebrations in Auckland at the weekend has questioned the worth of the massive police operation targeting the gxxg.
Canterbury University sociologist Jarrod Gilbert also criticised what he called a misguided focus on gangs as the major perpetrators of organised crime in New Zealand.
Authorities prevented 11 "notorious gxxg members'' from entering New Zealand for the motorcycle club's 50th anniversary celebrations at the weekend and maintained a significant presence outside the gang's Auckland headquarters.
Immigration and Customs were also involved in an operation dating back to a police raid last October.
Dr Gilbert questioned the resources devoted to the operation by police in a bid to stamp their mark on the notorious gxxg's celebration and billed as an opportunity to prevent the gxxg extending its criminal networks.
"As far as I'm aware there were no significant arrests made in relation to any organised criminal activity,'' Dr Gilbert said.
"There was an enormous amount of police resources put into that operation'' and it remained to be seen whether the outcomes of that were "cost effective'', he said.
Dr Gilbert said there was a misconception that motorcycle clubs and gangs in New Zealand sat down and plotted criminal activity for financial gain.
"In reality it simply doesn't work like that.'' Instead, such operations were run by cliques within gangs who often worked with those in other gangs as well as non-gang related enterprises, he said.
"Gangs in New Zealand just aren't like that. We have a tendency to think of them like they're the mafia when in reality they're not like that at all.'' Dr Gilbert said such behaviour was too risky and was not pragmatic.
"You only need to have one bug or one undercover agent and if you're committing crime as a group then the whole gang is going to go down. And like any organisation, the gangs are primarily concerned with organisational survival.''
Focussing on gangs as the major perpetrators of organised crime in New Zealand risked "putting the shutters'' on other groups and individuals who were involved.
A police report on organised crime released last year made the same distinction, saying there was an "observable trend'' of gangs increasingly working together but adding that they were becoming less likely to be collectively involved in an organised criminal adventure.
Ad Feedback "Rather, individuals use their gang membership to enable and facilitate organised criminal activity,'' the Organised Crime in New Zealand report said.
Detective inspector Grant Wormald of the Organised Financial Crime Agency of New Zealand said the Hells Angels gathering presented a risk of serious offending and harm to the community.
The multi-agency approach taken prevented some notorious gang members from entering New Zealand, he said.
"These people are organised criminals, many with long criminal histories relating to drugs and fraud and other serious and violent offending.''
Mr Wormald said authorities did not want gang members strengthening ties with their New Zealand counterparts during the anniversary weekend.
Gangs have been linked to a series of major drug-busts recently. Eleven members of the Head Hunters are charged with possession of more than $1 million of methamphetamine, allegedly seized from the gang's west Auckland HQ.
Earlier this year, police arrested 28 people in raids on the Red Devils gang and charged them with dealing drugs and being a member of an organised crime group.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/5230381/Hells-Angels-police-crackdown-criticised
