Reference: IR-01-22-17597
1 August 2022
Andrew Li
[FYI request #19695 email]
Tēnā koe Andrew
Request for information
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request of 16 June 2022
regarding gangs and transnational crime groups.
Responses to your questions are set out below.
a) a list of New Zealand Adult Gangs/organizations/groups that have been
recorded on the New Zealand National Gang List.
The New Zealand Adult Gangs listed on the June 2022 National Gang List (NGL) are:
• Aotearoa Native
• Bandidos MC
• Barbarian Stormtrooper
• Black Power
• Comanchero MC
• Devils Henchmen MC
• Filthy Few MC
• Greazy Dogs MC
• Head Hunters MC
• Hells Angels MC
• Highway 61 MC
• Killer Beez
• King Cobra
• Magog MC
• Mangu Kaha
• Mongols MC
• Mongrel Mob
• New Zealand Nomad
• Outcasts MC
• Outlaws MC
• Rebels MC
Police National Headquarters
180 Molesworth Street. PO Box 3017, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
Telephone: 04 474 9499. Fax: 04 498 7400. www.police.govt.nz
link to page 2
• Road Knights MC
• Satans Slaves MC
• Southern Vikings MC
• Stormtrooper
• Tribal Huk; and
• Tribesmen MC.
The NGL is comprised of information held by the Gang Intelligence Centre agencies
1
about patched or prospect New Zealand Adult Gang (NZAG) members and does not
record gang associates or those who may be affiliated. The NGL was created for
intelligence purposes, not for the purpose of counting gang membership numbers or to
act as a reporting tool.
The information is collected for the purpose of maintaining oversight of the gang
environment, to enhance our understanding of the scale of social harm caused by
gangs, and to support the identification of prevention and intervention opportunities.
Individuals are added to the NGL following a validation process carried out by Police
districts and national intel igence staff. The following factors are taken into
consideration when validating gang membership (patched or prospect) status:
•
intelligence from operations and search warrants.
•
an ‘intelligence noting’ identifying an individual wearing a patch.
•
visible evidence of members wearing a patch.
•
certain prominent or significant gang ‘patch’ tattoos.
A fluctuation in numbers on the NGL may be attributable to a variety of factors,
including changes in recording processes and methodology, improved intelligence
collection and collation capability, as well as new individuals being identified as joining
NZAGs.
Police continues to improve the quality and detail of data relating to gang membership
at a district and national level in order to inform the delivery of policing services and
support the identification of prevention and intervention opportunities.
b) a list of entities/groups that have been defined as 'transnational crime
groups'.
If these are tracked as separate types of groups internally, they should be
provided as separate lists or with that additional data column included
(preferably as a common electronic format for data of this nature, such as .csv,
.txt, .xlsx etc).
We have interpreted your request as relating to groups identified as transnational
organised crime (TNOC) groups. There are approximately 20 TNOC groups currently
of interest. This does not include any groups that may previously have been of interest
but are no longer. The number of groups of interest is subject to change frequently due
to a number of factors. We have not included known groups operating across the world
where we have not identified a nexus to New Zealand.
1 New Zealand Police, Department of Corrections, Internal Af airs, Oranga Tamariki, Ministry of Business, Innovation &
Employment, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, New Zealand Customs Service, Accident Compensation
Corporation, Ministry of Social Development, Inland Revenue, and Kāinga Ora.
The names of individual TNOC groups have been withheld under the following sections
of the OIA:
• section 6(b), where making this information available would be likely to
prejudice the entrusting of information to New Zealand on a basis of confidence
by the Government of another country or international organisation; and
• section 6(c), where making this information available would be likely to
prejudice the maintenance of the law, including the prevention, investigation,
and detection of offences.
I trust that this information is of assistance to you. You have the right to ask the
Ombudsman to review my decision if you are not satisfied with the response to your
request. Information about how to make a complaint is available at:
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
Yours sincerely
Julia Smith
Manager - Intelligence Fusion Teams
New Zealand Police
Document Outline
- Li Andrew IR-01-22-17597 - Cover.pdf
- 17597_Approval Sheet.pdf
- Li Andrew IR-01-22-17597 - Draft response V2.pdf
- Li Andrew IR-01-22-17597 - Request.pdf
- Li Andrew IR-01-22-17597 - Strat Comms Approval.pdf
- Li Andrew IR-01-22-17597 - D Approval.pdf