Sensible Sentencing praises Police Minister’s Stand on Gangs and Drugs

8th May 2017

The Sensible Sentencing Trust strongly supports Police Minister Paula Bennett’s stance against government funding of addiction programmes for gang members, and says the government needs to go much further to fight the scourge of gangs, including investigating attempts in other countries to make gangs illegal and eliminate them from society.

“Paula Bennett is right on the money when she says the best thing gangs can do for their P addicted members is to stop manufacturing the damn stuff” said Sensible Sentencing Gang spokesman David Garrett.

“This is like a moonshiner asking for government funding for a rehabilitation program for his wife who has become an alcoholic drinking his own product” Garrett said. “It is absolutely absurd that there has ever been any government funding of this or any similar programme”

“The Salvation Army ought also to wake up; despite what naïve and mischievous people like Dame Tariana Turia think, gangs – particularly the two major ethnic gangs – are not ‘just another form of whanau’…they are a scourge and a cancer on New Zealand society, and if they cannot be eliminated entirely – which has never been tried – their members’ lives ought to be made as difficult as possible, and they should not get $1 of government money, either directly or indirectly” said Garrett.

“In recent years the Salvation Army seems to have somewhat lost its way, and their working with a band of vicious scum like the Notorious chapter of the Mongrel Mob epitomizes this departure from the sterling work they have done with the poor, the lonely and the troubled for many years. The Notorious chapter of the Mob is well named – they are responsible for some of the most notorious and vicious crimes gangs commit – and they require their prospective members to excel other gang members in their depravity and cruelty in order to get patched.” Garrett said.

“If the Salvation Army continues down this path it will see not only its government funding cut, but a marked drop off in the high degree of public support they have always had. Ordinary people in this country see the Mongrel Mob and other gangs for the scum they are. The Salvation Army should remember an old saying that is particularly apt in this instance: ‘those who lie down with dogs wake up with fleas’ “

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