Blanket law urged for patches ban | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

A blanket bill allowing New Zealand councils to sidestep the Bill of Rights and introduce an anti-gang patch bylaw could help Wairarapa police outlaw gang insignia in Masterton's CBD.
Wairarapa police area commander Inspector John Johnston said last week that he was approaching Masterton District Council with a view to introducing the bylaw, following increased gang visibility around the town.
Council CEO Wes ten Hove confirmed he was meeting Mr Johnston this week to discuss the possibility of the bylaw.
Following the Michael Laws instigated Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Act last year, Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) was now trying to amend the Local Government Act to make it applicable nationwide. ''Currently there is no bylaw provision and we have the odd situation with the Wanganui Act, which is specific to Wanganui only,'' LGNZ policy analyst Mariska Wouters said.
She said providing councils with a range of approaches to deal with gang-related issues had driven the drafting of the proposed amendment.
Ms Wouters said the amendment would enable all councils to create a bylaw to prohibit the wearing of gang insignia in areas defined by councils, in consultation with the community and police.
LGNZ aims to get Local Government Minister Rodney Hide to present the amendment as a supplementary order paper to the Local Government Amendment Bill.
''Our work has focused on prevention, intervention and enforcement. Guidelines we've produced will help councils with the first two components, while the Prohibition of Gang Insignia amendment we've drafted, will assist councils with the last component,'' Ms Wouters said.
She said the guidelines offered practical approaches to managing gangs and provided examples of good practice from New Zealand and overseas.
LGNZ will invite councils to workshops to help them implement the suggested approaches