Napier residents say they were left feeling intimidated, and police were forced to act as "glorified babysitters" after a large Mongrel Mob gang patching ceremony took place on their road over the weekend. 

Up to 40 gang members rented a property on North Shore Road overnight on Saturday. The members, of all ages, took up residence at the house, and along the street from about 3.30pm in the afternoon, before leaving the next morning. 

A resident, who did not wish to be named, said it should never have happened in the first place, or at the very least, police should have informed them prior to the incident. 

However, police say the information they received late on Friday night was "very general" and was not specific around what type of gathering it was going to be, or where specifically in Eskdale it was going to be - "simply that there was going to be a gathering of some sort in the Eskdale area on Saturday night". 

The resident said people were forced into their homes, unable to do anything out of fear. "They were all patched up and right across the road. You actually had to drive through them to get to your house or to the other side of the street."

"Everybody was upset and someone told me that they went to go home and they had to drive through them, and they wouldn't move for her. She got pretty close to a couple of them and they just looked at her and slowly moved off ... and that to me, is intimidation."

Mongrel Mob gang members on North Shore Road. Photo/Supplied.

The resident questioned why the gang members didn't go to their headquarters, and "Why didn't they have it there? Instead of coming down to a resident's place and a community like this and intimidate people with their bloody barking and patches."

But they say it comes as a warning to those who rent out their properties. "The one I really feel sorry for is the woman who rented the house because she knew nothing about it and she wasn't even here." 

It is understood the booking was made under a woman's name. 

The resident believes it could have been a lot worse if police weren't around and hadn't kept an eye on them, but "their hands were tied". He estimated there were about six police cars surrounding North Shore Road. 

"Police told me to make as much noise as I can to get this out there because they're getting sick of all of these gangs and basically all they were doing last night was just glorified babysitters. Because they weren't breaking the law, they couldn't do anything about it so the mob, just did what they wanted to do.

"For me, it's a waste of resources that they couldn't do anything. They were there in numbers to make sure nothing happened which is fair enough, but like they said, they can't do anything and in the meantime, the residents had blocked themselves in their houses." 

They did say that the members cleaned their rubbish outside and took a trailer load away with them. Whether that was because of the police presence, they do not know.

The resident said something "definitely" has got to be done about this issue. "The gangs and that are just getting out of hand, especially in Napier and Hawke's Bay itself. They're just running the cops around and they can do what they want." 

A police spokesperson said they received several calls on Saturday night from residents in the Eskdale area regarding activity at a North Shore Road address.

"Police deployed resources to the area in response and maintained a visible and constant presence throughout the night." The spokesperson said they received one report of disorder, which was family-harm related and involved people who had been at the North Shore Road address on Saturday night. A person was subsequently processed for drink driving.

"No other reports of any issues requiring Police intervention were received." She said police will follow up if any offences are reported. 

"In general, we urge anyone with concerns or information about suspicious or unsafe activity to contact Police on 111 (in an emergency) or 105 (in a non-emergency situation)." 

Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise was not aware of the incident when contacted by Hawke's Bay App but said she "completely understands" residents concerns. 

"Community members should not be feeling unsafe and concerned in their neighbourhood due to any sort of gang activity so it is quite disappointing to hear about this and I will certainly be following up with local police." 

The incident comes off the back of a community safety survey, conducted by Napier City Council, that found gang activity in Napier has led to locals being far more fearful about their safety than they used to be.

The survey, which took place between February 3 and March 2 this year, found 44 per cent of residents felt unsafe - a 27 per cent increase on the 17 per cent of people who reported feeling unsafe to this question in the Social Monitor Survey 2020. 

"Obviously we do have a large percentage of our community who are feeling unsafe at the moment, so as a council we are really focused on the safety initiatives that we have underway and we need to be working in partnership with police all the time just to ensure that our community start to feel safer," Mayor Wise said. 

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