The first arrest occurred three minutes after midnight when a man who allegedly had the Mongrel Mob insignia on his car was stopped by police and slapped with a summons for displaying gang insignia in public.

Other notable arrests include a group of headhunters allegedly wearing their patches as they walked through the Mobil gas station in Wellsford on the day the ban came into force, including one man believed to be the president of the gang’s western chapter.

They were arrested the following day in an early morning raid on the Head Hunters West site in Henderson, Auckland, with some taken away in their pajamas. As of Thursday, police had laid 38 charges under the new law.

Schedule 2 of the Gangs Act 2024 lists 35 gangs whose insignia, including patches, are now illegal to display in public.

They include international outlaw motorcycle clubs such as the Hells Angels, the Mongols and the Rebels, traditional patched gangs originating in New Zealand such as the Mongrel Mob, the Black Power and the King Cobras, and lesser groups. known as the Kuki Squad, the Damned Pirates and the Full. Bloody Islanders (FBI).

Police said for a gang to be eligible for Schedule 2 it must have a common name or identifying signs or symbols, be currently active in New Zealand and have members or associates who have been convicted of an offense punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of two. years or more in the last five years.

As a result, some older and less active, or defunct, gangs previously listed in the 2013 legislation banning insignia from government buildings are not listed in the new law.

Gangs listed in the government’s 2013 building ban, but not the new patch ban law, include Tokoroa’s Hu-Hu MC, the defunct Lost Breed MC formerly of Nelson, Sinn Fein MC of Upper Hutt and the Southern Vikings.

One notable omission from the new Gangs Act concerns the Bloods, a group from Los Angeles known for its long-standing rivalry with the Crips. Local knockoffs of both gangs began to emerge in Auckland in the 1990s and gained a foothold among South Auckland’s street gangs.

Crips are listed in the Gangs Act 2024 as subject to the insignia ban, but Bloods are not, although they appear to meet the criteria set out by the police. The Crips are known for their blue insignia and the Bloods are associated with red.

It’s been less than five years since two members of the Auckland Bloods, Janeiro Tapusoa and Leroy Tinei, were found guilty of the murder of Sam Tupou, who they mistook for a Crip because he wore a blue jersey, even though he wasn’t associated with any gang.

Members of the Bloods and Crips have been responsible for several serious assaults on corrections staff in recent years, according to data released by the department under the Official Information Act.

This week, the Herald asked police why Crips were listed in the new law but Bloods were not.

Police said in a statement that Schedule 2 of the Gangs Act 2024 included the same 35 gangs currently on the police national gang list.

“However, the Act also allows for a subtle but important expansion of the scope of gangs to be included in Schedule 2 compared to the NGL,” the statement said.

“The police Gang Harm Insights Center has assessed and continues to assess gangs that may meet the new criteria.

“The police are currently developing further recommendations to ministers regarding changes to Schedule 2, which will be submitted shortly and ultimately determined by ministers on advice from the police. »

The National Police Directorate subsequently confirmed to Herald this statement meant that the police would ask the government to add more gangs to the law.

A spokeswoman said she had nothing to add to her initial statement when asked what specific groups gang personnel wanted to see added to the new law.

However, she said there were no plans to add designated terrorist organizations to the list, “given that this legislation concerns gangs and we do not classify designated terrorist organizations as gangs.”

Georges Bloc is an Auckland-based journalist focusing on police, courts, prisons and defence. He joined the Herald in 2022 and has previously worked at Stuff in Auckland and Otago Daily Times in Dunedin.