Police must target
drug gangs
Monday, 18 April 2005, 1:46 pm
Press Release: New Zealand National Party
18 April 2005
Hon. Tony Ryall MP National Law and Order spokesman
Police must target
drug gangs
National’s Law and
Order spokesman, Tony Ryall, says confronting drug-dealing gangs must be one
of the top priorities for policing.
“Labour has taken too
long to realise synthetic drugs are out of control.
“It is planning to put
the Serious Fraud Office in charge of confiscating gang assets, but that
will undermine the intelligence and forensic effort needed to make this law
work.
“Informants and
intelligence information comes from policing contacts. Crushing the gangs is
a job for police officers, not accountants.
“The gangs are out of
control because police do not have the resources to deal with them.
“In some areas, the
outlaw motorcycle gangs are going unpoliced. Their importing, manufacturing
and distribution of synthetic drugs is not subject to any targeted police
surveillance.
“What is very worrying
is that many of these gangs were enemies only a decade ago. Today they are
business associates. They are dividing our suburbs into franchise areas for
their P methamphetamine trade.
“Labour has promised
new Proceeds of Crime legislation every year since they came to office.
Every month they delay, more lives are destroyed.
“This is a war New
Zealand must win. “You don’t hear much from the gangs these days. They don’t
rob banks or hold up supermarkets anymore. Those are high-risk, low-reward
crimes. Today they keep their heads down making synthetic drugs. For them,
drug dealing is a low-risk, high-return business. National will change that
risk-reward trade-off.
“We will overhaul the
Proceeds of Crime legislation to confiscate the assets of the drug-dealing
kingpins. We will toughen criminal non-association laws. We will enhance
intelligence gathering. “We will boost frontline police numbers so they have
the resources to deal to this scourge once and for all,” Mr Ryall says.
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