Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws is hailing the progress of the council's anti-gang patch bill in Parliament and says other councils are looking to follow in the city's footsteps.
The bill, which gives the council the power to ban gang patches in public places, passed its second reading on a 64-58 vote in the House last night.
Mr Laws said today that was good news and a step in the right direction.
"We're not suggesting that this bill is the silver bullet. But it will be another very useful tool in the police toolbox, and complement other anti-gang legislation currently before Parliament."
Mr Laws said the bill, which was supported by police and the New Zealand Police Association, would:
- Stop patched gang members from intimidating people public places;
- Stop gangs from advertising their criminality to impressionable youth;
- Give police additional powers to intervene against gang members in public places.
Other mayors and councils had spoken to him about the legislation and were preparing to follow Wanganui's lead, Mr Laws said.
The bill was drafted by Wanganui District Council and introduced last year by local National MP Chester Borrows.
Labour supported the bill in its first reading but had changed its stance and voted against it yesterday.
The party's former deputy leader Michael Cullen said it would not achieve its basic purposes and the issue of gangs needed to be resolved by a much broader range of policies across the entire country.
The Government is behind the bill and it has the numbers to become law.
However, it now has to pass its committee stage, when each clause can be debated, and then its third reading.
