Waitakere tackles youth gangs

Two years ago youth gangs were a problem in Waitakere. Now, some local police are confident they have the issue under control.

Officer in charge of the Henderson Youth Crime Unit, Sergeant Richard Orr, says he believes West Auckland no longer has a problem with youth gangs.

“They are here, but we know who they are and they know who we are, which makes a huge difference,” he says.

It was in July 2007 that the Henderson Youth Crime Unit was developed in response to the rising number of youth gangs.

“They weren’t what you call an organised criminal group. Most were a mixture of friends who knew each other through school and just decided to call themselves a name that was cool at the time.”

Sergeant Orr says the youth gangs were mainly into drinking together and fighting, but since they started monitoring them there has been a huge reduction in youth crime and violence.

Former gang detective Cam Stokes, who now runs his own drug and gang education company, agrees Waitakere has dealt with its youth gang problem.

However, he says organised criminal gangs are as dominant as ever.

Stokes says he has not seen them try to control young people and turn them into gangs like in South Auckland.

“But they are very powerful criminals, so you have all sorts of people that look up to them and respect them and want to be like them,” he says.

Stokes, who was in the force for 18 years, says if more resources were put into tackling organised criminal gangs, police could deter their influence.

“There are not enough police that are actively investigating these guys. As a detective I had five staff but enough work to keep 25 staff busy. ”

Inspector Jason Hewett is the senior police representative for the Auckland Youth Support Network, an organisation that specifically addresses youth gangs.

“It’s a misnomer to say that West Auckland doesn’t have a youth gang problem,” he says.

Inspector Hewett says the Auckland Youth Support Network has been scanning Auckland and has identified Waitakere as an area where there is risk.

“It’s all well and good having police taking a hard line approach and suppressing the gangs, but at the same time we need to be redirecting youth away from youth gang activity.”

Senior Sergeant Ross Hunter of Henderson Police agrees the community of Waitakere still needs to be looking at new ways to keep young people off the streets.

“There is some concern that Waitakere could inherit a South Auckland style gang problem. But we don’t have that problem yet and hopefully with the right resources and right intervention we won’t get that problem.”