National Party leader Simon Bridges is defending his plan to win the "war on gangs" but won't say how many specialist police officers will be required to implement it.
As part of the National Party's law and order discussion document released on Tuesday, the party proposed forming a specialist police taskforce to "tackle gang crime" if elected in 2020.
The unit would be similar to New South Wales' Strike Force Raptors, an organised crime squad with additional tools and power to crack down on gang members.
The National Party wants New Zealand's version to have the ability to shut down gang clubhouses, require gang pads to have liquor licenses, and look into members' finances.
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Bridges told The AM Show on Wednesday that "we are losing the war on gangs right now", but the Australian taskforce had proven to be "remarkably successful".
"It is harassing and disrupting [gangs] every single day," he said.
"It will be people with both accounting and forensic expertise through to [people with] the ability to go kick in doors."
If a gang member punches someone in a bar, "you send this unit in," Bridges said. They don't pay a traffic fine, "you send this unit in".
The Strike Force Raptors have been successful in the Australian state - making hundreds of arrests and seizing hundreds of thousands of dollars from gangs. But members have also been criticised for being too aggressive. Earlier this year, a lawyer accused the taskforce of stalking and intimidating him.
