Ryan Bridge: Is the patch ban going to solve the underlaying causes of gang crime?
Description
Everyone hates gangs. Unless you're in them, you hate them because they intimidate, they cause misery, they beat their wives, they do all sorts of awful things.
But I just worry that the gang patch ban in and of itself is not really going to solve the underlying causes, is it?
And what I worry about is the waste that could go into this.
The waste of time, police energy and resources. Every time Betty sees a gang patch, she rings in 111, which is fine because I know it's intimidating. However, that is going to tie up some police time which could be better spent solving an actual crime.
The other problem here is the design of the insignia, the gang patch.
So at the moment, the police know the designs of each of the gangs' patches.
What they're apparently doing is going down through and making subtle changes, adding words like mana whenua, or changing this logo or that logo.
So, sure, you will take the patch, you will collect it as evidence, you will take it to court, and the lawyers will argue that it's different.
I mean where are we now with our legal bills and our legal aid bills? What have we actually achieved in doing that?
Have we reduced crime, or have we increased the cost of administering a fashion police policy?
That's my only concern.
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