Safety is top of mind for those wanting to become Hamilton West's next MP, with by-election hopefuls keen to show voters they can be tough on crime.
National's candidate Tama Potaka said his focus is to help people and businesses "feel safe, secure and not broken", labelling Hamilton the "ram-raid capital of New Zealand".
While there were spikes in ram-raid-style offending this year, mostly in Auckland and Waikato, youth crime rates have been dropping overall since at least 2014.
Potaka encouraged the Government to look at National's recent proposal of cracking down on serious repeat offenders. Its Combat Youth Offending Plan includes establishing a youth offender military academy for teenagers, electronic monitoring, tackling gangs and empowering community groups to "break the cycle of offending".
"We've got a plan, it's been announced. Others rely on ideology," Potaka said.
ACT welcomed the move, but the Greens have labelled it “embarrassing”. (Source: 1News)
"LSV [the Defence Force's Limited Service Volunteer course] is a good example of what's worked. MACs [Military-Style Activity Camps] actually worked. Fifteen per cent of people who went to MACs - military academies under the National Government - actually didn't re-offend."
He said the camps resulted in a 50% reduction in serious violent offences - "and that's what Labour is soft on".
The policy of sending young offenders to military-style camps has been tried in the 1980s, in 2009 under Sir John Key, and again in 2017 under Sir Bill English.
A 2013 Ministry of Social Development evaluation of MACs found about 12 to 15% of those who graduated from the programme did not re-offend in the following two years. Of those that did re-offend, there was a 57% reduction in the seriousness of offending, and a 47% reduction in persistence.
Labour candidate Georgie Dansey said National's youth crime policy has "already been done and has failed".
Dansey, a former teacher, said she taught students who come from difficult households. She said young people like that were more likely to be committing ram-raids.
"This isn't just a policing issue - it's also a community issue. We need to look at this holistically with wraparound support for our communities."
Sociologist and gangs researcher Jarrod Gilbert said "the public are desperate for answers" on crimes such as ram-raids. (Source: Breakfast)
The Government announced a youth crime package in September that emphasised getting more young people into education, training or work.
Police are holding youth offenders accountable and the Government is serious about dealing with crime, she said.
Police data also shows, as of October, 307 arrests were made in Waikato in recent months for ram-raid and smash-and-grab crimes. Those arrests included 205 offenders, with several being arrested more than once.
Nearly 90% of ram-raid offenders are under the age of 20.
But retailers are calling out for more support to protect their stores from burglary.
ACT candidate and list MP James McDowall said the Government's $6 million Proceeds of Crime Fund for security measures like bollards has been a "total fail" for retailers because of the "arduous process" they have to go through to access the money.
Dansey said 13% of ram-raid offending had taken place in Hamilton, and 15% of that fund has been allocated to businesses in the city.
Since it was announced in May, police told Q+A 83 stores are on the way to finishing or have already completed installations for further security equipment. However, police were unable to immediately give Q+A a breakdown by location.
A total of 500 shops are expected to qualify for the funding, but police select which stores are eligible rather than the businesses themselves.
"It's a shame that it's taken a by-election to get this kind of policy out of the National Party," McDowall said of National's youth offender policy, pointing to ACT's youth ankle bracelet proposals from September.
The Act leader says he’s glad the opposition party has clarified its position on youth crime. (Source: 1News)
At the time, National's Erica Stanford told Discovery's AM the idea of electronically monitoring serious offenders as young as 11 - as ACT has suggested - "breaks my heart".
Earlier this week, National leader Christopher Luxon clarified the party's position: "We do not want to see an 11-year-old, I'd suggest to you, with an ankle bracelet. But if that has to be the case then so be it. If they're a serious repeat offender, so be it."
Gaurav Sharma, who is running under the NZ Momentum Party after being ousted from Labour, said he'd seen the effects of crime over his years as the local MP.
"I've been living right next to the Frankton Bakery and have been going there for the past five years. I've been doing the Frankton markets as well. So it's good that the new candidate from Auckland is able to [visit local businesses affected by crime]," Sharma told Potaka, who had recently moved to Hamilton West.
"You could be good security, mate," Potaka replied.
The Hamilton West by-election was triggered by Sharma's resignation in October, following his very public fallout with the Labour Party.
Voting in the by-election begins on November 28 and ends on December 10.
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