IR-01-24-6642
22 March 2024
Kitty
[FYI request #25875 email]
Tēnā koe Kitty
Request for information
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request of 25 February 2024, in
which you asked for information regarding the National Gang List and organised criminal
groups.
My response to each part of your request can be found below.
1. The current National Gang List held by the Gang Harm Insights Centre
The National Gang List (NGL) is an intelligence tool that enables the Gang Harm Insights
Centre (GHIC) and partner agencies to develop insights into the harms caused by, to,
and within the gangs recorded on it.
The GHIC records patched and prospect members of New Zealand Adult Gangs (NZAG)
on the NGL. The GHIC established the NGL in 2016 as a means for understanding the
national gang picture in New Zealand. The NGL is an
indicator of knowledge,
its primary
purpose is not to count gang membership numbers or to be a reporting tool, instead, the
information is collected for the purpose of maintaining oversight of the gang environment,
to enhance our understanding of the scale of social harm caused by gangs, and to
support the identification of prevention and intervention opportunities.
Please refer to Table 1 which provides the most current numbers of patched and prospect
gang members on the NGL, as of 29 February 2024.
Table 1: Number of NGL members by Police District, as of 29 February 2024
Police District
Number of
members
Auckland City
365
Bay of Plenty
1628
Canterbury
741
Central
870
Counties/Manukau
1001
Eastern
1382
Northland
391
Southern
267
Tasman
211
Waikato
963
Waitematā
529
Wel ington
1099
NGL Total
9447
2. (a) The criteria used by the GHIC to classify organisations, associations, or
groups of persons as gangs, for inclusion on the National Gang List.
(b) If the NGL is updated by means other than secondary legislation to the
Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Act 2013, please clarify
this process and the parties that are involved in the classification of new
groups as gangs.
The GHIC classifies a gang as a group with a structure and col ective rules or codes,
which also meets all of the following criteria:
•
Five or more members
•
Share a common name
•
Cause harm to the community through criminal offending
•
Have one or more common identifiers.
3. (a) A current list of organised criminal groups held by Police and/or relevant
agencies for the practical purposes of policing, pursuant to the enforcement
of the Crimes Act 1961 and other legislation which references the definition
laid out in section 98A(2).
(b) Clarification as to which parties are responsible for the classification of
groups as organised criminal groups.
For the purposes of section 98A(2) of the Crimes Act 1961, an organised crime group is
not predetermined or designated, instead it is proven by evidencing in court that a group
of 3 or more people have committed the offences as laid out in parts (a), (b), (c), and (d)
of the section.
Police does not designate organised crime groups, though it may label a group as an
organised criminal group if it meets the definition laid out in section 98A(2) of the Crimes
Act 1961. However, Police does not maintain a list of groups that have been labelled in
this way, therefore your request for a list is refused under section 18(g) of the OIA, as the
information is not held by Police.
You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision if you are not satisfied
with the response to your request. Information about how to make a complaint is available
a
t: www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
Please note that as part of its commitment to openness and transparency, Police
proactively releases some information and documents that may be of interest to the
public. An anonymised version of this response may be publicly released on the New
Zealand Police website.
Yours sincerely
Julia Smith
Manager – Intelligence Fusion Teams
New Zealand Police
