Associate Police Minister, Casey Costello, has today unveiled a new all-of-government plan to tackle organised crime.
“We are at a critical time in the fight against Transnational, Serious and Organised Crime (TSOC),” Ms Costello says.
“New Zealand and our Pacific neighbours are being increasingly targeted by organised criminal groups, who are using new technologies and new ways of operating – and we need a different, stronger and more cohesive response.
“This new TSOC strategy and action plan are designed to achieve this, with the aim being to make New Zealand the hardest place in the world for organised criminal groups to do business and cause harm.”
The action plan sets out key cross-agency initiatives to improve the response to TSOC. The immediate priorities are:
- exploring options for a department or agency responsible for TSOC to drive accountability and coordination across government
- developing a new mechanism for cross-agency information and data sharing
- implementing the package of actions that respond to methamphetamine harm, and
- strengthening communities and addressing harm through Resilience to Organised Crime (ROCC) initiatives.
“Organised criminal activity including the illicit drug trade, scams, migrant exploitation and money laundering inflicts misery in our communities. It drives violent crime, and harms individuals and families, legitimate businesses and the broader New Zealand economy,” Ms Costello says. “The illicit drug trade alone is estimated to cost the country around $1.5 billion in social harm.
“This Government is determined to address this and is looking to a step-change in approach.
“We established a Ministerial Advisory Group to provide expert advice, and its key recommendations were the need for strengthened governance and accountability across government and better information sharing.
“Basically, we need organised government to fight organised crime, and through the action plan we are working on the best way of doing this and making full use of all of the resources, powers and information that agencies collectively possess.”
