Christchurch police officers are "really struggling" with the level of youth crime in the Garden City and feel "hamstrung" in their efforts to deal with the problem, the Police Association president says.
Chris Cahill told Breakfast: "It's a really significant issue. I just got a briefing from front line cops in Christchurch yesterday, and I've been around police a long time but the stories I'm hearing are really shocking me.
"These are offenders as young as 12 and 13, and they're just showing absolutely no care for the public.
"They're driving around, deliberately trying to knock people off their bikes at high speed in vehicles, they're throwing objects out of stolen vehicles at them, they're ramming police deliberately.
"Police are really struggling to deal with this recidivist group of most serious offenders."
Cahill said officers are talking to the young peoples' parents, with limited success.
"They're also pulling their hair out, they're not engaging at any level," he explained. "There's real concern about some member of the public — and certainly the youths themselves — getting killed because of their actions at the moment."
He said front line officers feel "hamstrung" and need more support.
"I think it's time in Christchurch now for an air support unit, a helicopter, so that they can actually do some policing in a safe manner that works incredibly well in Auckland. It worked well when they did the trial in Canterbury.
"Nearly 100% of offenders were captured and it lowers the risk to the public and the police. That's only one side of dealing with the problem, but at the moment, that's what's got to be dealt with when the public are being put at risk.
"Unfortunately, I think someone's going to be killed," Cahill added. "It's only a matter of time."
Youth development worker Aaron Hendry said inequality and poverty are driving the offending.
"These are children we're talking about," he said. "We need to look at what is actually happening with those whānau, what's going on for them in their environment, and how do we respond to that adequately and start responding to those individual needs?
"This is all about keeping the public safe.
"If we want to prevent crime, if we want to make sure that those children are not getting into a car and driving into a building, we've got to ask why they're doing that in the first place."
He called for more community organisation resourcing to address the issue.
"You're not gonna fix this overnight," Hendry added. "We need to start investing for our future."
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