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  "description": "“10,475 police officers and 10,478 gang members.” ",
  "path": "/three-more-gang-members-than-police-but-49-000-fewer-victims/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-28T19:56:26.000Z",
  "site": "https://goodoil.news",
  "tags": [
    "Centrist",
    "victims of crime",
    "pic.twitter.com/sOEn2zteo8",
    "February 27, 2026",
    "pic.twitter.com/B2fns0ausy",
    "February 26, 2026",
    "**1News**",
    "**iHeart Radio**",
    "** _Receive our free newsletter here_**",
    "@LASHFORD_17",
    "@dpfdpf"
  ],
  "textContent": "Summarised by Centrist\n\n**1News recently reported that there are “10,475 police officers and 10,478 gang members.”**\n\n**Since the 2023 election, gang numbers have risen 13%, or 1208 more members, while police numbers have increased by 264. Labour’s Ginny Andersen called the new figures “a broken promise from the Prime Minister” and “an absolute failure”.**\n\n**Yet on the same day, the New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey showed there were 49,000 fewer victims of violent crime in the year to October 2025 compared with the previous two years.**\n\n136,000 people were victims of crime in the 12 months to October 2025, a significant drop from prior levels.\n\n> Mark Mitchell NAILS TVNZ.\n>\n> Absolutely unbelievable that on a day that the Government announces 49,000 fewer victims of violent crime and a 22 per cent decrease in serious repeat youth offending, 1News chose instead to engage in unbalanced journalism by running a story about gang… pic.twitter.com/sOEn2zteo8\n>\n> — LASHFORD (@LASHFORD_17) February 27, 2026\n\nJustice Minister Paul Goldsmith linked the decline to policy changes: “We have reformed the sentencing regime so those who cause the most harm are imprisoned for longer,” he said, citing restored Three Strikes laws and new tools to deal with gangs.\n\nPolice Minister Mark Mitchell argued that “greater police visibility in communities has helped deter crime” and that foot patrols have “almost doubled”.\n\nLuxon’s defence was consistent with that line. “Our commitment is that we are lowering crime and when you see violent serious crime coming down… the effectiveness of gang members in prosecuting crime has been diminished by virtue of our actions,” he said.\n\n> 79,000 fewer NZers were bashed, raped or assaulted than 18 months ago. A staggering 37% drop in violent crime victims. The disastrous experiment of emptying the prisons has been halted and reversed. pic.twitter.com/B2fns0ausy\n>\n> — David Farrar (@dpfdpf) February 26, 2026\n\n**Editor’s note:** Newstalk ZB’s Barry Soper described the 1News framing as lacking balance, saying that there “wasn’t a mention of the number of violent crimes that had diminished”.\n\nHe stated that a “high profile manager at TVNZ” had contacted Police Minister Mark Mitchell to apologise for “the way the crime figures were dealt with”.\n\n“They used figures showing there were… three more gang members than there were police in the country. Three,” he said. He questioned how precisely gang membership is measured and argued the “story was absolute, undiluted rubbish”.\n\n**Read more over at****1News****and****iHeart Radio**\n\n** _Receive our free newsletter here_**",
  "title": "Three more gang members than police — but 49,000 fewer victims",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-01T19:35:17.159Z"
}