As Napier City Council adopted its Long Term Plan (LTP) this week, it confirmed it will replace the city's CCTV network after a survey into community safety highlighted residents' fears over gang activity in the region.
The community safety survey of 597 people was conducted between February and March this year to gauge residents’ concerns. Council met yesterday to discuss the key findings of the survey.
In a joint statement to 1 NEWS today, Mayor Kirsten Wise and chief executive Steph Rotarangi said the results of the survey show "residents’ concerns match our own, and validate the work already underway to address these concerns".
"In our LTP adopted on Wednesday this week, Council confirmed the development of a new City Ambassador programme for Napier, in conjunction with a replacement of the existing CCTV network."
Billy Macfarlane told Breakfast that increasing police in the Napier area won’t fix the problem. (Source: Other)
The Ambassador programme, which is in its design stage, is due to start on 1 July 2022.
"We back projects that are collaborative and make the most of the resources and strengths we have as a city.
"Concerns about safety have come through loud and clear in our survey and we need to act, along with working together with our partners to to not only improve people’s feelings of safety, but actual safety."
Results of the survey show gang activity was the leading safety concern (55 per cent of respondents).
They were asked to suggest ideas for improving safety, (other than more police) and 84 per cent of people responded with recommendations for improvement.
The most common suggestion was to ‘get rid of gangs/ban gang patches’ (27 per cent), and more CCTV/security cameras (27 per cent).
"Evidence shows that banning patches has little effect on making gangs less visible, or reducing antisocial behaviour," the council statement said.
Whanganui District Council introduced a bylaw banning gang insignia in all public places in 2009, however a High Court ruling deemed this to be unlawful and invalid.
The owner of a Napier bar told 1 NEWS he paid $120,000 to have a state-of-the-art camera system installed last year amid rising crime in the area.
"We’ve got 70 cameras around the premises," he said.
Wise and Rotarangi said Napier Council invests $350,000 a year into community safety initiatives, "working closely with police and other agencies".
"We invest in initiatives including Napier Community Patrols & Neighbourhood Support, and help fund community led ones such as rangatahi programmes that provide pathways into education and employment."
The council is also the coordinator of Safer Napier, a collective set up in 2010 of more than 40 organisations including police, and a number of safety partners including Napier Community Patrols, Napier Safety Trust, and Napier Neighbourhood Support.
The city has had a wave of gang-related crimes stemming from rising tensions over the past 18 months.
In early March, an altercation between rival gangs resulted in two people being injured in a drive-by shooting outside Napier bars on the popular West Quay strip.
Also in March, a homicide investigation was launched after a person's death at a known gang pad in Napier.
In May , an Outlaws Motorcycle Club gang member was killed after being assaulted by two people on Mersey St in Pandora.
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