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Police Minister Ginny Andersen isn\u2019t taking legislative change off the table as the Government attempts to stem rising violent crime, particularly offences committed by young people.

Both Andersen and Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been clear in recent days that more could be done to address crime, which is fast becoming a key issue ahead of the general election in October amid\xa0reports of businesses closing\xa0and\xa0owners fearing death, while Opposition parties\xa0demand stronger penalties for offenders.

This Government\u2019s response to the increasing numbers of ram raids and aggravated burglaries last year largely consisted of\xa0two programmes providing security measures to small business owners\xa0and\xa0expanding multi-agency efforts\xa0to identify young offenders within 24 hours of the offence in areas like Auckland and Hamilton.

Speaking to the\xa0Herald, Andersen indicated she may be considering tweaking the law to ensure it was meeting the need.

\u201cLook, it\u2019s always important to look at if the laws are working properly and making sure that we\u2019ve got those settings right,\u201d she said.

\u201cPost-Covid, we have seen that hardcore group of repeat offenders that are quite young.

\u201cSo I think it\u2019s important that we make sure that we\u2019ve got all those settings right to not only keep our community safe, but make sure that the laws [are] acting in the right way.

\u201cThat\u2019s as much as I\u2019ll say, but I\u2019m taking a really good look at the change in the landscape post-Covid and making sure we\u2019ve got those settings right.\u201d

A Sunnynook dairy was ram raided on May 10. Photo / Hayden Woodward

The two programmes targeting young offenders included Kotahi te Whakaaro, which combined members from police, Oranga Tamariki, the health and education sectors, K\u0101inga Ora, the Ministry of Social Development, local non-government agencies and iwi to review cases of those aged between 14-17 caught in the preceding 24 hours.

The other was an early intervention programme, dubbed the \u201ccircuit-breaker\u201d, for children aged 10-13 and which operated in a similar way to Kotahi te Whakaaro.

In Budget 2023, the\xa0circuit-breaker programme was expanded\xa0into Auckland City, Hamilton and Christchurch after being piloted in South Auckland.

By the end of March, 82 per cent of the 147 children referred to Kotahi te Whakaaro had not reoffended. For the circuit-breaker programme, 67 of the 84 children referred had not been re-referred.

Andersen said further expansion of the circuit-breaker programme would be \u201cgood\u201d, but it was unlikely Kotahi te Whakaaro would be expanded as well.

\u201cI don\u2019t have the budget for that now, but I\u2019m always advocating for what more we can do.

\u201cI constantly have conversations with the Prime Minister and we\u2019re always looking at new options.\u201d

To indicate the complexity of addressing youth crime, Andersen referenced a 13-year-old boy who was found with a broken leg after participating in a ram raid.

According to Andersen, the house he was living in was infested with cockroaches, he and his siblings weren\u2019t attending school, his mother was struggling with mental health issues and the children were largely going without clothes and food.

Andersen said it took eight attempts by police, social workers and iwi representatives to make meaningful contact with the family, at which point the father broke down in tears.

\u201c[The father] was just in a state of absolute despair but through [those attempts], they got a door open.\u201d

She considered programmes intervening when children were young as essential, with evidence indicating older children often acted as the \u201cringleader\u201d for others who would learn criminal behaviour if they weren\u2019t set on a different path.

Police Minister Ginny Andersen and Northcote MP Shanan Halbert pay a visit to an Auckland dairy ram raided four times in recent months.

It appeared likely that any further resources would be directed at diverting offenders away from crime as opposed to adding to the support for victims of retail crime, although Andersen did not rule out the latter.

\u201cWhen I visit businesses that have been victims of ram raids, I see the harm and I see that people are scared and angry.

\u201cWe want to make sure we\u2019re doing everything we can to get on top of the problem now, but I feel I have a real responsibility to make sure that we\u2019re doing that long-term work to make sure that we\u2019re not just delaying the next generation.\u201d

The police\u2019s retail crime prevention programme had fitted 295 small businesses with a variety of security measures, with a further 262 having had quotes approved, as at May 17.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment\u2019s fog cannon subsidy scheme had installed 582 cannons across the country, with another 436 in progress or booked in.

- Adam Pearse, NZH

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