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08 September 2009
PRESS RELEASEE
MICHAEL LAWS
MAYOR
WANGANUI DISTRICT COUNCIL
BLACK POWER GANG “CAN’T BE TRUSTED”
Mayor Michael Laws is today rejecting the “sob story” of Black Power member and apologist Denis O’Reilly that his gang members need community work programmes to better integrate them into the community.
Mr O’Reilly made the claims to the ‘Wanganui Chronicle’ [published 8 September 2009] as well as stating that a gang protest would be organised for midday today at Majestic Square. No protest subsequently occurred.
“The truth is that gangs can’t be trusted. Gang work programmes tried in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s all failed to arrest gang illegality or gang growth. In fact, they were used as an economic base to spread those gangs’ influence.”
Mayor Laws was a senior parliamentary researcher in the 1980s and chairman of the government’s caucus employment committee in the early 1990s.
“All our research indicated – and the Police subsequently confirmed – that work programmes targeted at gangs were used to hide their other criminal activities. That they were all for public show – and that the drug-dealing, violence, intimidation and burglaries continued unabated. You can’t trust gangs to be lawful – it’s as simple as that.
“You know if a gang member sincerely wants to reintegrate within the community. They abandon their patch, get a job and start living a good life. It’s not a hard test – it’s what the rest of our community does every day.”
ENDS
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