Police are uncertain what has caused the escalation in gang violence in Hawke's Bay.

The proliferation of gang members in Hawke's Bay and the now very evident consequences is "well beyond the police".

Eastern District Commander Superintendent Tania Kura said it in a way that suggested anyone thinking police could somehow stem the number of young men signing up for a patch was a fool.

Kura and Eastern District investigations manager Detective Inspector Rob Jones fronted media in Hastings on Tuesday following two gang-related shootings in their district.

One involved shots being fired near Ruatoria. The other, far more serious, saw shots fired during a gang fight between Mongrel Mob and Black Power members in Taradale's main street on Sunday afternoon.

READ MORE:

* Hawke's Bay gang tension growing despite set up of special unit

* Residents of quiet Napier suburb coming to terms with gang gunfight in their main street

* Shot fired outside Napier health clinic following day of gang violence

MARTY SHARPE Police Detective Inspector Rob Jones and Eastern District Commander Superintendent Tania Kura.

A 25-year-old man who was injured in the event has been charged. He is now in custody and will appear in court on Wednesday.

Police are trawling through CCTV footage of the event and more arrests are likely.

Meanwhile, officers will be armed with Glock pistols as a precaution.

Kura and Jones said all the things expected of police in this situation - they are treating both matters seriously; they want to reassure the public their safety is paramount; they are determined to hold those responsible to account.

Their demeanour says no-one will be more frustrated or disappointed than they are.

"Are the gangs at war?" asks one reporter.

Supplied Five shots were fired in what's understood to be a gang brawl between Mongrel Mob and Black Power members in Taradale on Sunday afternoon.

No, says Jones. Tensions are heightened, but "war" would be an overstatement.

Police said they would increase staff numbers after a gang shooting outside a Napier medical centre in November, said another reporter. Do the latest shootings mean it's still not under control?

"How do you deal with people who are unpredictable?," Kura says in response. "They're not disciplined. The fact they don't particularly want to come forward and talk to us ... Asking hundreds of gang members to co-operate ... It's a little bit of a stretch to think it's just the police who can do that."

She points to drug dealing and patch protection as being possible sources of tension.

"They have a new cohort of younger members. I don't think the older hierarchy are able to control the same way they used to. Whether it's reached a crisis point? I think any event that happens like this is a crisis to a point," she says.

Asked about the growth in gang members, Jones says the number of patched members has increased by 30-35 per cent in the past 2-3 years in Hawke's Bay alone.

There's a Gang Focus Unit, created last year to tackle organised crime, but if anyone thought it was any kind of panacea they'd be wrong.

It's "not the silver bullet for this particular problem" says Kura. "This is well beyond police."

"That's why we talk about our community, our other agencies, about whanau and how they look after each other. If you have a look at how Eastern District has a high number of family harm incidents we attend on a daily basis. To me that's all connected and if you think back on why would a person join a gang, well maybe there's a little to be said about family dynamics as well," Kura says.

Police are dealing with "people who are unpredictable, who aren't disciplined and who don't respect authority in any way", she says.

Jones says police are talking to gang leaders "almost by the hour". "Our immediate appeal to them is for calm, for some common sense to be applied. That isn't always easy'.

Senior leaders of both gangs have expressed a willingness to have a dialogue with police, he says, but reiterates seconds later that there's "an increasing incidence of the young ones not having the same level of respect for the elders".

"Elders don't appear to have the same level of control as they did," he says.

How long before someone's killed, someone asks.

"I look at the Jhia Te Tua incident," Kura replies.

Te Tua was a 2-year-old girl shot and killed accidentally as she slept at her home in Whanganui in 2007. The shot was fired during a gang confrontation between members of Black Power and the Mongrel Mob.

"My appeal to the gang leaders is you need to think about that. That's one of their own. You have gang members taking children to these events with weapons in their car. I find that quite horrendous," she says.