The police have gone public with a new gang crackdown operation and a former police negotiator suspects it has something to do with winning back the public's trust.
Police confirmed on Wednesday a nation-wide operation targeting gangs, called Cobalt, involving a ring-fenced group of officers from certain districts who will work specifically on disrupting gang activity.
Due to start over the next two months, police are looking to "increase focus on the unlawful behaviour of gang members", a police spokesperson told Newshub.
"The operation will see all police districts focus specifically on addressing unlawful behaviour by gang members that affects the community's sense of safety.
"Police remain committed to combating criminal activities and ensuring our communities are safe and feel safe."
The police already went public with Operation Tauwhiro in February 2021, a nationally coordinated operation cracking down on gangs and organised crime. As of March 1, it had resulted in 1531 firearms seized, along with 53.74 kg of methamphetamine and 1255 arrests. The operation was extended until June.
Former police negotiator Lance Burdett, speaking to AM on Wednesday, said it's "very unusual" for police to go public with these operations and suspected it might have something to do with cops wanting to win back the public's trust.
"Why would you go public with something like this other than to assure the public that you were doing your job?" Burdett told AM.
"I'm unsure of the motive. All it's going to do, probably, is drive people underground. It's not going to make them paranoid. You make gangs paranoid by arresting them, by running covert operations, by having human source intelligence.
"But overtly coming out and saying 'we're coming for you' is a little unusual to me."
Burdett said the police appear to be following in the footsteps of Australia, where gang crackdown operations are often highly visible, like the infamous Strike Force Raptor police unit in New South Wales.
"This is very much doing what they're doing," Burdett told AM.
"I'm just not understanding the reason behind it. It's just alerting people that we're coming. It might reduce some people from getting involved in gangs and that's a good thing but it could drive them underground."
It comes after official information obtained by the National Party earlier this month showed gang recruits were outstripping new police.
In Waikato, the difference was stark: 95 new officers since 2017 compared to 259 new gang members. The same went for Wellington: 62 new officers since 2017 in contrast to 430 gang member recruits.
In March, gang members were filmed riding their motorbikes on a busy State Highway before attacking and critically injuring a motorist. A month later, Stuff revealed CCTV footage showing Mongrel Mob members brazenly shooting a .22 semi-automatic from their car at rival Black Power gang members in Napier.
And earlier this week, the NZ Herald revealed that gang warfare was behind rising gun violence that's claimed nearly 100 lives in just four years.
On top of that, New Zealand is grappling with a crime spree.
Operation Cobalt is understood to involve more bail checks and arrest warrants, and monitoring of gang tangi, to help keep communities safe.
"The tangi thing is a little unsettling. It's the death of a loved one," Burdett said.
But he's all for police cracking down on gang pads and executing search warrants.
"Gangs have been highlighted as a particularly targeted group and so they'll be using every tactic they can both overt and covert to get as much information as they can to disrupt their business."
