Thousands of charges have been laid against youth offenders in the last nine months for incidents at retail businesses in Auckland and Waikato.
Police say a total of 1229 charges have been filed in the Youth Court over offending in Waikato. Police said 205 offenders have been arrested 307 times for ram-raid and smash-and-grab-style offending. Some of them are repeat offenders.
In Auckland, 142 young people have been arrested, with 1036 charges laid since May. The offending in both regions relates to burglary, robbery and unlawful taking.
This comes as police across the country attempt to curb youth offending after a number of highly publicised smash-and-grab and ram raid-style robberies.
Police said the data relates to the period from February 1 to the end of September. It said in many instances, individuals have been charged with more than one offence and on more than one occasion.
Police say that investigations into youth crime in both regions is ongoing and it expects further arrests and charges will be made.
Assistant Commissioner Richard Chambers said he hopes the provisional numbers show how hard staff are working to tackle the problem of youth offending.
"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," he said.
"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."
The group have laid out a list of demands to Police Minister Chris Hipkins. (Source: 1News)
He said police have also been working with other agencies to solve the issue, such as Oranga Tāmariki.
Chambers said that there is still a small number of young people who are committing a large amount of offending.
"Police have acknowledged that in many instances people are being identified for offending at more than one location," he said.
Chambers also said that police and other agencies have been working to identify the offenders and said that the reasons why they continue to offend are "varied and complex".
"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," Chambers said.
He added 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."
SHARE ME