Sergeant Allan Potter, who is in charge of youth services in Napier, said the boy was being transferred to an Auckland secure care facility reserved for "hard to handle" youth offenders today.
He would likely remain there for months, until carers had seen some change in his character, Mr Potter said.
"This kid is different to the norm. He's going to a secure care facility for hard to handle kids who have exhausted most of the options available to them."
The boy has a dysfunctional home environment and extended family connected to the Black Power gang, police said.
Last month he allegedly acted as a lookout and "gate-opener"' for a 17-year-old and a 21-year-old man who were later arrested and charged with burglary in the Napier suburb of Onekawa.
He was sent to Gisborne and placed in care but ran away and made his way back to Napier.
The boy was arrested, along with a 12-year-old boy and a boy and a girl, both 16, yesterday when a homeowner returned to find one of the group climbing through his window in Onekawa yesterday, police said.
It is understood the man followed the alleged offenders through the streets as they threatened him with a real estate sign pulled from a lawn and threw rocks at his car.
Officers arrested all four of the alleged offenders soon afterward.
Mr Jones said the 11-year-old alleged offender would often walk down streets knocking on doors as he sought empty houses to rob, he said.
"There hasn't been many positives in his life. He's certainly not had many positive role models in his life."
Mr Jones said the 16-year-old boy and girl had appeared in Napier District Court yesterday.
- Herald Online
