Police ram-raid intel: 79 youth offenders of ‘concern’

Police outside the Sandra Dairy, in Ellerslie, after a ram-raid last year. Photo / Hayden Woodward

A police report containing “high-level intelligence” on ram raids reveals 79 youth offenders are thought to be “of concern”, as they’re being raised in an environment of “habitual and normalised offending”.

The Targeted Overview of Youth Offending in New Zealand report was sent to then Police Minister Chris Hipkins in September last year.

The briefing, released to the Herald under the Official Information Act, indicated an “inter-connectedness” between ram raids and a wider pattern of dishonesty offending.

Police found there were 5955 proceedings against 3541 youths aged between 14-17 between February 1 2022 and July 31, 2022. The highest number of proceedings per person was 17.

Almost half had only offended in the three categories associated with ram-raid type offences. Of this group 79 had five or more proceedings including violence offences, 41 of which involved a ram raid. As of September 15, 14 were in custody, 46 were on bail. The status of the remaining 19 was unknown.

“These 79 youth and their immediate support networks are considered to be of concern as it appears these individuals are being raised in an environment of habitual and normalised offending,” the report says.

“The full extent of interaction between the 79 individuals, their families and government agencies is unknown.”

Police used the National Intelligence Application (NIA) to establish possible links between the youths of concern. All but 12 of the youths were linked in police records.

“Almost all of the 79 youth have a mutual connection with one another via a person, vehicle, location or similar.”

Auckland City, Counties Manukau and Bay of Plenty police districts were the most common locations for the links.

Police records of family members were also examined, revealing those who committed offences predominantly offended in three categories - burglary, car conversion, and theft.

The analysis found several areas of interest that required further examination including that where a sibling had a gang alert then the youth almost always gang-associated, but this was not the case where fathers had a gang alert.

Also, where parents had charges for weapons use or possession so did the youths. However, charges for drug use and possession among parents did not appear to increase the likelihood of youth also being involved in this type of offending.

All families were recorded as being engaged by government agencies, but the youths were not “typically targeted” for direct intervention until after their offending began.

Theft and related offences were commonplace among mothers and siblings, which suggested poverty is a driver, the report said.

Mental illness was also not a theme among the 79 youths or their parents.

The review said the sample conformed to known patterns for youth offending, including poor or non-existent engagement with education, victims or witnesses of family harm and had fathers who were engaged in the criminal justice system. Nearly 90 per cent of the youths were boys, who began offending between 12-14.

Among the 12 police districts Counties Manukau had the highest number of youth offences at 420, Bay of Plenty 345, Auckland City 336. The Central district had 222 offences, Wellington 209 and Canterbury 180.

About 30 per cent of the offences resulted in court action, 62 per cent in non-court action and the remainder were not proceeded with.