A community on edge gathered together yesterday, desperate for answers as to how and why gang violence has been able to escalate in recent months, and what police are doing about it.

More than 250 residents an community leaders packed into Taradale Town Hall – exactly a week after, and barely 300 metres away from where, tensions between Black Power and Mongrel Mob members reached an all-time high.

The Taradale shooting, in which one gang member was shot, and a bullet was lodged in a child’s car seat, came after a shooting in Ruatoria last Saturday.

While one man turned up to yesterday’s wearing a patch, he was quickly and peacefully turned away by police.

Police, along with Police Minister and local Napier MP, Stuart Nash, and Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise assured residents of their efforts to prevent further violence but made it clear it was much more than just a “police problem”.

Hawke’s Bay Police Area Commander Martin James said the community, local councils, NGOs and government agencies all had a part to play.

“This is critical, we need your support. And by your support I’m talking about information, not turning a blind eye, and supporting police when they need it,” he added.

James said their response had been to deploy a “high visibility policing effort” with additional staff from outside the district to “disrupt and mitigate further criminal activity from these gangs”.

Detective Inspector Mike Foster, officer in charge of the investigation, said two people had been arrested, most recently, a 22-year-old man in Flaxmere, charged with unlawful assembly, and are actively seeking others involved in the Taradale fight.

Last night announced they had made a further two arrests: a 39-year-old man and 27-year-old woman were arrested at an address in Flaxmere.

Two firearms were also located and seized. The pair have been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm.

At the meeting, Foster said while detectives had made “really good progress” with their invetsigations, partly due to the amount of CCTV footage available, it was “not easy when these people are disguising themselves in bandannas, [and] t-shirts”.

“I am on record as saying we can’t arrest our way out of this. We will arrest and we will take enforcement action where we have to … but it’s across the board, it’s about everyone.”

Foster, who also heads the Gang Focus Unit said they had arrested more than 100 people since it started up six months ago, and had seized 1kg of methamphetamine off the street, $250,000 in cash, $50,000 in assets and dozens of stolen vehicle and property. In the last 48 hours, they had arrested and charged 23 gang members across the Eastern police district.

Disgruntled murmurs could be heard from the crowd when a former gang member blamed colonisation and former government policies for creating disparity within Maori which has led to why many join gangs. 

"You can’t expect someone from Europe to solve our problems. If you want positive outcomes, have a dialogue with the leaders. You've got to make them inclusive instead of exclusive. You know we were here first and then you came.”

"If you legalise everything then that lifts the stigma and the cartels can't make any money off it. Problem solved.”

Cherie Kuarangi Kara, Mongrel Mob national administrator also spoke to the crowd, saying “the resources need to be given back to our own whānau hands”.

“We don't need Government infiltration to sort this out, their systems and ways have not worked. This is why we have this current state of problems.”

However, another man said he had lived in the area for 40 years and was angry. “This is our patch. It's not their patch”, he said to a welcome response.

Nash said he hoped people walked away “a little bit more reassured that police understand the issue and are on top of that”.

He said police were also in dialogue with a lot of gang members to “look to find solutions to the issues”.

“What is very clear is the behaviour that went on last Sunday is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated by our community.”

But some residents believed there was a lack of concrete solutions. A resident, who did not wish to be named said after the meeting, she was going away “feeling like nothing is resolved”.

“They didn’t really say anything. All it is, is that we’ve got to help the mob to be better people.”

Tukituki MP Lawrence Yule attended the meeting and said he found the police “not strong enough”.

“We have a very different approach then Labour has. Yes, you have to work with the community but on the other side of it, you have to have a really hard-edge to your police work and I found it interesting when the police said they arrest people if they have to.”

He said the community can do “their bit”, but ultimately it is the police’s responsibility to “keep us safe”.

Wise said she had already indicated her willingness to meet with the local leaders of the gangs to “help them move forward”.

“This is a priority for our whole community. This is about people, not patches, and this is about whānau, not gangs.”

She ended the meeting with a promise to facilitate a meeting with iwi, hapū, gang leaders, police and others to “work on a solution”.

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