Pitched as taking gangs out of public view — stripping them of their most visible show of intimidation so communities feel safer.

The Policy: National Gangs Crackdown Policy — 2023 Election →

What it does:

• The ban: from 21 November 2024 the Gangs Act 2024 makes it an offence to display gang insignia in any public place. It applies to 35 listed gangs and covers patches and whatever they are attached to (a jacket, a vehicle). Penalty: a fine of up to $5,000 or up to six months in prison (NZ Police).
• Extra powers: police can issue dispersal notices — ordering members to leave and not gather for 7 days where three or more are together — and apply for non-consorting orders stopping named gang offenders associating (Ministry of Justice).
• The scale: there are nearly 9,400 people on the police National Gang List, so the law targets a defined and sizeable group (NZ Police).

The result:

Enforcement was immediate — police made around a dozen arrests in the first 24 hours, and by 24 February 2025 had seized 76 patches and 67 firearms and laid 337 insignia charges (Gangs Act 2024 record). So the law is being actively used — a clearly kept promise with visible early results. The harder question is whether it cuts harm or just moves it: Wellington barrister Michael Bott argued the ban makes gangs harder to track and that existing law already covered gang offending, while the New Zealand Law Society warned it is 'an incursion into private life that is not justified on the evidence', raising Bill of Rights and rule-of-law concerns (The Spinoff). Verdict: delivered and energetically enforced, with patches off the street; its longer-term effect on gang harm — versus simple displacement — is still unproven.