Multiple people have already been arrested after hundreds of patched Mongrel Mob members flooded a small Bay of Plenty town for the funeral of a local gang leader on Wednesday.
Schools and roads in Ōpōtiki were shut, as red cars and motorbikes convoyed through the town to Whakatāne for the tangi of Steven Rota Taiatini.
Police officers were on high alert across the region and were seen filming the raucous procession.
Officers were also aided by a new law, the Criminal Activity Legislation Act, which allows them to search the vehicles of suspected gang members and seize their weapons.
The law was used eight times overnight, for five seizures.
Bay of Plenty District Commander Supt Tim Anderson told AM officers are now searching through the vision to identify any unlawful activity.
"The worst offending during the day yesterday were a few burnouts and we're following up with those riders and drivers today," Anderson said on Thursday. "That's the approach we take with these things."
He said the homicide probe into Taiatini's death was progressing well.
Locals 'quite happy'
Shop owners throughout Ōpōtiki were "getting along with their business - quite happy" on Wednesday, according to Anderson.
He defended police action in the light of some "mainstream media" coverage of Wednesday's funeral procession, saying it portrayed police officers taking a hands-off approach.
"We're certainly not hands-off," he said.
"We've got a number of tools that Parliament has legislated… and we're taking quite strong action against these gangs. In terms of yesterday's behaviour on the streets, there was some traffic offending and we're following up with that now - we've learnt from, over time, how to approach that."
Anderson said he backed his officers' decision to close roads.
"We have some tremendous staff across the Bay of Plenty… and they've been doing an outstanding job in terms of the work that they do."
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi said local iwi were also doing "their best to de-escalate the situation that has unfolded over the past three days".
The headline of this story was changed on June 28.
