Conflicts in Tairāwhiti
A significant Police operation has begun across Tairāwhiti, following several concerning incidents stemming from tensions between rival gangs.
Eight incidents, involving assaults and firearms, have been reported between 16 March and 23 March. Police and gang leaders have been working to ease tensions, but an escalation in the conflict between rival gang members has forced us to draw on additional powers.
Yesterday afternoon, Police were issued a Gang Conflict Warrant under the Criminal Activity Intervention Legislation Act, giving Police special powers to search vehicles and occupants of vehicles of suspected gang members, and to seize firearms and weapons, and vehicles.
Officers from across the district are supporting the operation, which will involve a heavy Police presence in Gisborne and further afield. Our focus, and the focus of all staff, is the safety of our communities. The incidents we’ve been made aware of posed a very real threat to the lives of those involved, and innocent members of the public. We’re not going to tolerate it.
We are continuing to work with gang leadership while sending a clear message to all gang members that they are in our spotlight.
Additional Police will be patrolling communities across Tairāwhiti, stopping vehicles with links to gang members, searching addresses, and progressing enquiries into the recent events of concern.
We want to assure our Tairāwhiti communities that we are driving this hard and will be committing significant resources to holding gang members accountable for their actions.
Police need the community to help us, and people can do that by reporting illegal or suspicious activity, by calling police on 111 if it’s happening now, or making a report via 105 if it’s after the fact.
Poll: Do you set New Year’s resolutions?
🎉 2026 is almost here!
We’re curious ... how do you welcome it?
Do you set resolutions, follow special traditions, or just go with the flow?
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9.5% Yes! New Year, New Me
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17.1% Yes - but I rarely stick to them
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73.4% Nah - not for me
Scam Alert: Fake information regarding December Bonuses from MSD
The Ministry of Social Development is reporting that fake information is circulating about new ‘December bonuses’ or ‘benefit increases’
If you get suspicious communication, please contact Netsafe.
Update to Neighbourly members on data breach 06/01/2025 8am
Yesterday in the High Court at Auckland, Neighbourly was successful in being granted an injunction against any unauthorised use of the data taken in a recent breach.
As we alerted you on January 1 and confirmed on January 3, our systems were accessed illegally and members’ information, including names, email addresses, GPS coordinates from the address you provided to us, forum posts and direct member communications were among the data that was accessed.
We acted immediately upon hearing of a potential breach: we temporarily disabled the site, notified members and authorities and worked with our external security consultants to understand if and how it had occurred. We then confirmed the breach with members, safely restored the site to service and began the process of seeking the injunction. Yesterday’s decision by Justice Johnstone prohibits the use of the data by any unauthorised person, and requires them to permanently delete it, or any information obtained from it.
This does not mean that vigilance against scammers is not still required: there is a large industry globally that seeks to use stolen information for identity fraud or to dupe people into providing details of their financial affairs for theft. Again, to keep yourself safe from scammers it is critical that you:
- Don’t click links in emails. Instead, type the web address directly into your browser. This helps ensure you’re visiting a real site, not a fake one
- Enable two-factor authentication where available as this adds an extra layer of security to your data
- Stay alert for phishing emails. Be cautious of unexpected emails asking for personal information, especially ones that create a sense of urgency.
Again, we want to apologise to you for this illegal access to the Neighbourly database and to assure you that we have carefully worked through how this occurred. We have safely secured the site and its services for use and ensured we have robust processes in place so this cannot happen again.
We are continuing to work with the relevant authorities, including the National Cyber Security Centre, on any further steps we need to take.
If you have any further questions please contact us via our customer support team at helpdesk@neighbourly.co.nz.
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