Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talks,
Speaker 1: I'd be there's a lot of news in the world
Speaker 1: of police and corrections this past week. First bound on
Speaker 1: gang patches came into force on midnight on Thursday. First
Speaker 1: arrest was only three hours later. I wonder if they
Speaker 1: had some sort of sweepstake in the police. Who gets
Speaker 1: in first gets a set of wine glasses or something. Anyway,
Speaker 1: there were twelve gang insignia related to arrests in the
Speaker 1: first twenty four hours. Richard Chambers has been announced to
Speaker 1: be the new Police Commissioner after he's been serving as
Speaker 1: an officer in nine in ninety six, and one of
Speaker 1: the ten Camp Youth Offender boot Camp participants has been arrested.
Speaker 2: Is it a sign? What does it tell us?
Speaker 1: And we're gonna have a chat about that right now
Speaker 1: with the Minister of Police and Corrections.
Speaker 2: Mark Mature is with me.
Speaker 3: Now, Mark good A good mate, good? How are you?
Speaker 2: I'm good good good.
Speaker 1: So just quickly, how is the decision to appoint the
Speaker 1: new police commissioner made? Who sort of sits on that panel.
Speaker 3: So that the Public Service Commission unset process. There is
Speaker 3: a panel sits that both, all the candidates go in
Speaker 3: front of there's a recommendation that comes back that the
Speaker 3: suitable candidates go forward as the police commissioner, and then
Speaker 3: I make a recommendation to the Prime Minister, who then,
Speaker 3: if he ac sets my recommendation, makes the recommendation to
Speaker 3: the Governor General.
Speaker 1: Okay, what were the qualities that attracted you to the
Speaker 1: new police commissioner Richard?
Speaker 2: Sorry, should put that in another way, But what did
Speaker 2: you like about?
Speaker 3: Sorry, I know what you mean.
Speaker 2: I know what you mean. What did you like about?
Speaker 3: Yeah, the qualities as a police commissioner. So, look, he's
Speaker 3: got he's got a very deep operational background. He's been
Speaker 3: an area commanded district commander in several different districts, and
Speaker 3: he's he's recognized has been a quiety leader that is
Speaker 3: connected to his front line but also has the strategic
Speaker 3: side as well. So he's just a grew very good
Speaker 3: all out. But what we'll need as a country and
Speaker 3: the police commissioner, A lot of.
Speaker 1: The sort of chat around the place has been it
Speaker 1: talks about the difference is that there might be between
Speaker 1: him and his predecessor Andrew Costa. But I mean, what
Speaker 1: will change effectively.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean that's entitled to him. But of course,
Speaker 3: you know, any new commissioner is going to have their
Speaker 3: own style, their own focus, in their own way of leading,
Speaker 3: so and I don't expect that to be any different
Speaker 3: with Richard.
Speaker 1: Okay, do you get a sense that it's been a
Speaker 1: popular appointment from within the front line of police force?
Speaker 3: Resoundingly? I think the feedback that I've had is that
Speaker 3: it's a very very popular decision. I think that he's
Speaker 3: deeply connected with his front line and they have enormous
Speaker 3: respect for him.
Speaker 2: Good stuff.
Speaker 1: Look, it's a bit disappointing about the news of that
Speaker 1: boot camp offender. What was your reaction that somebody had
Speaker 1: reoffended so soon?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, we would love to have a one
Speaker 3: hundred per cent perfect result on that, because these youth
Speaker 3: offenders that are going into the military academy are the worst,
Speaker 3: most violent recidivist offenders. They are right at the very
Speaker 3: difficult tough end the town in terms of trying to
Speaker 3: invest in them and rehabilitate them and you know, put
Speaker 3: some guidelines and guide rails and around them and allow
Speaker 3: them to come back into society with support to not reoffend.
Speaker 3: But I think we have to recognize, like I said,
Speaker 3: that they are at the very top end of the
Speaker 3: violent offending and presents the real challenges and so it
Speaker 3: was disappointing to see that one of them has reoffended,
Speaker 3: but look, we just remain committed the military academy. Feedback
Speaker 3: has been extremely positive from all those that have visited
Speaker 3: had been involved in it. We've got outstanding staff from there.
Speaker 3: We've got over seventy percent of the staff they're are
Speaker 3: Maria Pacific. Over thirty percent of them are each police
Speaker 3: or New Zealand Defense Forces. The young people themselves on
Speaker 3: the course provided great feedback in terms of they got
Speaker 3: a lot out of it. And there's one thing that
Speaker 3: we have done. It's difference is there's very strong reparound
Speaker 3: support for them. But like I said, it is really
Speaker 3: disappointing that one of them has gone out reoffending. Certainly
Speaker 3: not going to give up on them, and I think
Speaker 3: that the rest of them have come out, have been
Speaker 3: lined up for jobs and are actually doing very.
Speaker 1: Well well that I was about to ask you how
Speaker 1: the other nine are going, But so far, so good.
Speaker 3: I guess, yeah, no, no, they are, they're going well.
Speaker 3: But like I said, I mean you know, these are
Speaker 3: these are kids that had the system had failed them,
Speaker 3: and and they're already out there doing recidivous violent offending.
Speaker 3: It's not easy, it's tough, but look, we've got great
Speaker 3: people supporting them, helping me, helping them, mentoring them, putting
Speaker 3: guard else in place, and and trying to make sure
Speaker 3: that they turn into young keys. They can actually take
Speaker 3: advantage of the of the great opportunity our country has
Speaker 3: and not keep them on a fast trek into their
Speaker 3: doctrinal justice system.
Speaker 1: Given the given the cost to society of every sort of offender.
Speaker 1: You know what the what the negative potential of the
Speaker 1: offenders is if they go back to reoffend. What what
Speaker 1: does success look like for you with this program?
Speaker 3: Well, well, I mean old stimately for me is that
Speaker 3: they just stop reoffending, that they do engage in training,
Speaker 3: that they do actually want to get themselves into some
Speaker 3: manyful employment, that they want to break that cycle of
Speaker 3: violent offending. So and keeping them out of the adult
Speaker 3: criminal justice system, because once they get in there, then
Speaker 3: it becomes more and more difficult to rehabilitate and and
Speaker 3: get them back on the right track. So that's kind
Speaker 3: of what success looks like, for me, do you.
Speaker 1: Think, by the way, do we think we need to
Speaker 1: come up with a decent name for these facilities because
Speaker 1: the Children's Commission are clear. Akhmad said she'd visited the
Speaker 1: facility and she said, I've been to military style academy
Speaker 1: sort of but and that sort of. I've seen those things,
Speaker 1: but to be honest, I didn't see anything I would
Speaker 1: class as military style and character. And the point I'm
Speaker 1: making is really the word boot camp gets banded around
Speaker 1: as if that's the beginning and the end of the argument.
Speaker 3: But that was that was the term that all the
Speaker 3: detractors and everyone that was that was against them used.
Speaker 3: It's a youth military academy. Its stylized off their Limbited
Speaker 3: Volunce Limited on Test Service program, which has been extremely successful.
Speaker 3: It's been running for years. It focuses on young people
Speaker 3: seventeen plus that have gone off the rails a bit
Speaker 3: and it's been usually successful. And there is an element
Speaker 3: of the defense side of it, military side of it
Speaker 3: in these because there's guardrails, they are in a uniform.
Speaker 3: There is discipline in terms of getting up at a
Speaker 3: certain time of the day, learning about basic hygiene, learning
Speaker 3: how a team work involved in physical activity, you know,
Speaker 3: and having some strong hadrails put around them, which I
Speaker 3: think the young people actually makes them feel safer. Even
Speaker 3: though they pushed back bit, it actually makes them feel
Speaker 3: safer in the long one.
Speaker 1: Of course, the first view at the first intake is
Speaker 1: part of I guess what's called a trial. Is this
Speaker 1: a trial to see if it works or a trial
Speaker 1: just to test your methods and see what else what
Speaker 1: you can change?
Speaker 3: Well, I think it's a pilot because number one, we
Speaker 3: had to get it stood up fairly quickly, and the
Speaker 3: system does not get up to be able to NECESSI
Speaker 3: adapts that quickly. But we've we've done it. We've been
Speaker 3: very successful in Karen Chaw is doing an outstanding standing
Speaker 3: job of leading that long with the team that's been
Speaker 3: called together. But you know, we want to see how
Speaker 3: successful it as. We want to learn from it, and
Speaker 3: and I think that she's very keen to see it
Speaker 3: rolled out and expended.
Speaker 2: Okay, moving on to the gang patch ban.
Speaker 1: What's going to define this policy's success?
Speaker 3: I think if gag pictures just pear off our streets
Speaker 3: are quite simply warned to intimidate the community that these
Speaker 3: gangs operating. They are a symbol of violent offending. There's
Speaker 3: a trail of tears and victims sitting behind each of
Speaker 3: those batches. And as a country, I think it's a
Speaker 3: really good mood so that we're not going to tolerate
Speaker 3: them anymore. So I think that, and I think and look,
Speaker 3: I know that in your opening comments you said that
Speaker 3: within three hours of the patch coming into effect, there
Speaker 3: was actually taken It was actually three minutes.
Speaker 2: I meant to say, actually, did I say ours?
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah you did, But I know what you mean
Speaker 3: to say. It was actually three months. Listen, the police
Speaker 3: have got the ability to enforce this that it's now
Speaker 3: up to the gangs in terms of whether the gangs
Speaker 3: continue to think that they are above the law and
Speaker 3: they can con choose which laws they have to comply with.
Speaker 3: But as a country, as a coalition government, we're sending
Speaker 3: some really clear lines in the sand that we're not
Speaker 3: putting up with their violent nonsense anymore.
Speaker 1: How important was it for the police to act really quickly.
Speaker 3: I think it was important for the public to see
Speaker 3: that the police could act and could police this because
Speaker 3: the narrative that had got up through the media and
Speaker 3: certainly through the opposition parties was that the police had
Speaker 3: lost the capability to be able to police the gangs.
Speaker 3: The gangs had become too strong, and so I felt
Speaker 3: that it was really important for them to be able
Speaker 3: to show the public. But they've got deep capability and
Speaker 3: they will enforce the law and that's exactly what they've done.
Speaker 1: Is there any validity to the arguments that critics would
Speaker 1: make that actually, if you just push the gangs further
Speaker 1: underground and you make them less visible, that's not necessarily
Speaker 1: great thing.
Speaker 3: No, it's a silly argument. Of course, we don't want
Speaker 3: the public being exposed to the game. Members and police
Speaker 3: have got intelligence tools and they know exactly who the
Speaker 3: gigs are and then the serious activities that they're up to,
Speaker 3: so they don't need pictches to be able to per
Speaker 3: form them who they are or what they're doing.
Speaker 1: What do we know about the first we've had the
Speaker 1: first sort of twenty four to forty eight hours of it.
Speaker 1: But have there been have the gangs effectively followed the
Speaker 1: rules or are they constant risk being made right now?
Speaker 3: They have? I mean they have, they've been that there's
Speaker 3: a high level of compliance. There's probably going to be
Speaker 3: some that want to test it a bit, and the
Speaker 3: police are ready to respond to that. And ultimately the
Speaker 3: police will continue to enforce the law and if the
Speaker 3: gangs want to test it, then they'll lose the test.
Speaker 2: Are you anticipating any legal challenges to it?
Speaker 3: I don't know. I mean that that will be up
Speaker 3: to them, but it's possible. These gangs are well organized,
Speaker 3: they've rephisticated, well funded, don't do anything to try and
Speaker 3: avoid to clients. So who knows what it's set to
Speaker 3: wait to do?
Speaker 2: Excellent?
Speaker 1: Look, I really appreciate the time. Are you down at
Speaker 1: the swings or something? Sounds like you children?
Speaker 3: No oventually down at the viaduct. It's a beautiful day
Speaker 3: down here at the moment. So yeah, no, we've popped
Speaker 3: the end of the videt today.
Speaker 2: Oh excellent. You didn't go and see Santa.
Speaker 3: No, no are we here? I hid my sin to
Speaker 3: braid and I rewre used today.
Speaker 2: Excellent, excellent, good stuff. Mark. I really appreciate your time
Speaker 2: in staffing. Thanks very much for more from the Weekend Collective.
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