Ram raid at the Bottle-O on Jellicoe St in March.
By Pretoria Gordon of RNZ
Ram raids are down more than 80 per cent for the month of April compared to last year.
Police have identified 12 ram raids in April 2024, compared to 64 in April 2023.
Provisional police data from April 2017 to April 2024 shows a downwards trend since the peak in August 2022, when there were 86.
There were a total of 433 ram raids in 2022, 288 in 2023, and 67 in the first four months of this year.
Legislation introducing a new ram raid offence passed its first reading in August.
The Ram Raid Offending and Related Measures Amendment Bill would add ‘smash-and-grabs’ to the Crimes Act, and would give police the power to prosecute children as young as 12 with up to 10 years in prison, including for being a passenger, or filming the incident.
Around 70 per cent of identified ram raiders were aged between 14 and 17, and a further 12 per cent were aged between 10 and 13.
Nurse warns Hawke’s Bay Hospital is “holding on by the skin of our teeth” due to staffing.