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- By Casey Costello, Minister of Customs, Seniors
As a former police officer who served mostly in the Counties Manukau district, I am keenly
aware of the impacts of crime on our community.
aware of the impacts of crime on our community.
Despite protestations of the workability of the new legislation, New Zealand has benefited
from the crackdown on gang patches. There has been a step change in reducing the level of fear and intimidation that impacted those who need to be protected.
I continue to be focused on all aspects that undermine the safety and security in our
neighbourhoods, businesses, and homes.
This, of course, prioritises the public-facing activity, cops walking the beat, gang disruption
units, serious youth offending response, reducing family harm and capacity to deal with
violent crime in our streets.
But we cannot ignore the insidious drivers of crime generated from the transnational and
serious organised criminal network. To put this in perspective, these are criminal businesses trading in misery for profit.
Whether it is drugs, firearms, money laundering, or even trading in people, these criminal
enterprise networks will take any opportunity to profit with total disregard for the human
cost.
Many New Zealanders can thankfully live without any direct impact from these criminals, but the reality is frighteningly different in our most vulnerable communities. But make no
mistake, we all pay the price in some way or another.
As a country, we need to be bold in our actions in this war we are waging on crime.
With a single border, justice system, police, and legislature, we should be world leaders in
responding to organised crime.
I have recently established a Ministerial Advisory Group made up of experts in law, finance,
enforcement and gang operations to make the bold recommendations we need to make the
step change in enforcement.
This is a first step to bringing all the relevant agencies and powers together to strengthen our response and, importantly, make sure that those who cause the harm pay the highest price.
