The Government’s promised the “free ride” for gangs, is officially over.

From today, gang patches will no longer be allowed to be worn in public, courts will be able to issue non-consorting orders, and Police will be able to stop members from communicating with each other.

Greater weight will also be given to gang membership at sentencing – and repeat offenders continually convicted of displaying their patches in public will be subject to a new court order, prohibiting them from possessing any gang insignia in public, or private, for five years.

But any of this be any kind of deterrent to the more than 9000 gang members in New Zealand?

Today on The Front Page, lifetime Black Power member and community advocate Denis O'Reilly is with us to discuss his perspective on these new laws.

Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Sound Engineer/Producer: Richard Martin
Producer: Ethan Sills

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.