Under questioning from the ACT Party in Parliament, the Government has revealed there has been on average one ram raid a day since May 2022, and that a change in pursuit policy is coming as a result and that it's considering our policy of ankle bracelets for youth offenders,” says ACT’s Police spokesperson Chris Baillie.

“Minister of Police Chris Hipkins said that 215 ram raids have occurred since May 2022, mostly from youth offenders.

“He also revealed that there will be an upcoming announcement on police pursuit policy and that ACT’s proposal for ankle bracelets for youth offenders isn’t off the table.

“Ram raids are one of the major problems affecting New Zealanders right now, and Labour has not gone hard or early.

“For too long Labour has gone soft on crime and offences have erupted. Youth Aid budgets have been cut by $10 million and officers have told me that these offenders have no fear of consequence.

“They’ve finally realised that their softly softly approach doesn’t work, and are u-turning on their pursuit policies and looking at adopting ACT’s practical law and order policies.

“ACT proposed ankle bracelets in our Law and Order policy document in August. Ram raids are being carried out by the same, hardened group of young people who face no consequences. They’re too young for prison, they’re known to escape from youth justice facilities, or are sent home to their families where they have a lack of guidance and discipline.

“This is exactly the sort of consequences that Labour should be looking into. Some people will say 11-14 is too young to wear an ankle bracelet. Do those same people say it’s too young to carry out a ram raid? ACT says if you can do the crime, you can cop the punishment.

“For every crime committed there is a victim who deserves better, and when youth is involved, the stakes are even higher – we can’t sit by while young New Zealanders become criminals.”

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