Thousands Of Charges Laid In Waikato And Auckland In Relation To Youth Offending
Police have made hundreds of arrests and laid thousands
of charges for
offending at retail businesses in Auckland
and Waikato in recent months.
In Waikato, 205
offenders have been arrested a total of 307 times for
ram
raid and smash and grab style offending. Some of
those arrested are repeat
offenders.
Overall, those
charged are facing, or have faced, a total of 1229
charges
filed in the Youth Court.
This data relates to the period from 1 February to the end of September.
Further north, Police across Tāmaki
Makaurau have arrested 142 youth
offenders and laid 1036
charges since May.
Those charges across both regions
relate to burglary, robbery and unlawful
taking offences.
In many instances, individuals have been charged with
more
than one offence and on more than one
occasion.
Investigations in both regions are ongoing
and further arrests and charges
will be
made.
Assistant Commissioner Richard Chambers says
these provisional figures show
how hard Police staff are
working to identify offenders and hold them
to
account.
“We know how tough it has been for
retailers who are the target of this
criminal offending.
Some have been hit more than once and it’s having
a
huge impact on them.
“Police focus continues to
be on working to try and prevent this type of
offending
and continuing to hold to account those responsible and
place them
before the Courts where possible.
“We
know that what drives this offending is a complex issue that
Police
can’t solve alone, so we have also been working
with other agencies on
alternative resolutions for some
of these young people. However, for
repetitive offenders,
we are taking a stronger stance.
“Police has opposed
bail in many of these cases and we will continue to do
so
for recidivist offenders who pose a risk to business owners
and our wider
community.”
Insights into offenders
Assistant Commissioner Chambers says there
continues to be a small portion of
young people
committing offending and inflicting a large amount of harm
on
business owners.
“Police have acknowledged
that in many instances people are being
identified for
offending at more than one location. The reasons why
they
continue to commit offending are varied and
complex.
“There is ongoing work between Police and
other partner agencies to further
understand identified
offenders’ backgrounds.
“For the vast majority
they have been involved in some form of family harm
and
it’s almost certain many have been exposed to violence
from a young age
as either victims or
witnesses.
“Their motivation continues to be money,
peer pressure and social media
notoriety for all the
wrong reasons.”
Assistant Commissioner Chambers says
many are not engaged in education and
attendance at
school is irregular or difficult to determine.
“We
are supporting our partners, Oranga Tāmariki and Ministry
of Justice
as they work to try and address the drivers of
this serious offending but
Police’s role is very clear:
we have an obligation to the community, and we
will
respond, investigate, apprehend, and hold people to
account.”
Mall patrols
As part of our ongoing
prevention work, Police where possible, have
increased
foot patrols in malls and shopping precincts.
This is to offer reassurance to
businesses who are
feeling on edge following recent events.
These will continue as part of our normal deployment assessments and plans.
How can the public help?
Police continue
to ask our community to contact us with any information
on
this ongoing ram raid and smash and grab style
offending and also encourage
parents or families of those
involved to reach out to Police and work through
possible
solutions to help break the cycle of offending.
We
would also like to highlight again that the vehicles most
commonly being
stolen are; Toyota Aqua, Nissan Tida,
Mazda Demio and Mazda Atenza. Owners of
these vehicles
are asked to take extra precautions to keep their
vehicles
safe.
This includes simple things such as
purchasing a steering wheel lock,
removing valuable
items, locking your vehicle and parking it in a garage
or
driveway.
If people need support around this,
then please contact your local Police
station for further
advice.