Minister of Police Poto Williams wants the police to work faster to tackle a surge of gang violence in Auckland.

Police Minister Poto Williams
Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas

Rising tension between Tribesmen and the Killer Beez has been linked to a number of shootings in Auckland last week, with seven across the city on one night.

Seven people have been arrested so far, with four guns and 250 rounds of ammunition seized by police.

Williams said what was happening in Auckland was distressing.

“I’ve been getting strong assurances from police that they are working diligently to get on top of that situation.”

When asked if police were working fast enough, Williams said: “I want them to work faster. Our communities are still feeling really unsafe.

“They are working hard, they are working diligently. But, if you’re a member of that community who has faced what’s happened over the last few days, you are rightly feeling a little anxious and I want for the police to work diligently.”

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster told Checkpoint the violence was not sustainable and the police were cracking down on the two gangs.

Today, he said there had been at least one meeting between leaders of Auckland gangs who were ‘at war’, as police worked to de-escalate tensions by wearing them down.

“Our approach… is to target any activity we can find, as an opportunity to send them a message. We find everything we can, and that’s to send a message that this way of behaving is completely unacceptable,” he told Morning Report.

“And eventually that, combined with the stress that they feel from being at war does tend to calm these things down – that’s what we will keep doing.

“Clearly it’s incredibly unnerving for these communities affected, and I really feel for them. These things unfortunately tend to come in waves … we are doing absolutely everything we can to target those groups.”

National leader Christopher Luxon said police should be given warrantless search powers so they can track down illegal firearms in gangs’ possession.

“The second thing we want is a dedicated gang unit that actually can deal with gang infringements themselves. And the third thing we’ve said says the police should be reviewing the pursuit policy… There’s three practical ideas, take them on board, do it.”

Luxon added that he does not like anything about gangs. “They peddle misery and hurt and pain and suffering for everyone.”