Canterbury police are planning action on the region's ten leading "crime families".
Inspector John Price said police had identified the families by searching through crime data.
"There was a small number of names that kept recurring, including both adult and youth offenders," he told The Press newspaper.
"These families had a large number of offences linked to them."
Mr Price, Canterbury police's development manager, said about 12,000 people occupied Canterbury police cells each year.
About 200 of those were responsible for about 20 per cent of the crime.
Police plan to work with other agencies on strategies to curb the families' crime.
- NZPA
Police plan action on 'crime families'
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