Latest Police data shows monthly ram raids have hit a two-year low, laying waste to Christopher Luxon’s false claim that there are two ram raids a day says Labour’s Police Spokesperson Ginny Andersen.

Data released today by Police shows a 70 percent reduction in ram raids from their peak of 116 a month in August 2022. By comparison there were 35 ram raids last month.

Ram raids have been trending down for the past three months, with 78 in May, 50 in June, and 42 in July.

“Since becoming Police Minister in March, I’ve focused on tackling the ram raid problem and these efforts are starting to turn a corner with the lowest number of ram raids per month in two years,” Ginny Andersen said.

“The number of ram raids per month is now at the lowest since September 2021.

“One ram raid is one ram raid too many. They cause immense destruction, trauma, and harm. We have more to do more, but our approach is starting to pay off.

“The circuit breaker programmes we’ve put in place have worked. As at September 2023, 77 per cent of the young people that have gone through them were not re-offending.

“By taking an evidence-based approach, Labour in Government has been able to turn around the lives of these young people and stop them from entering into a life of crime.

“This is in stark contrast to National’s failed boot camp experiment, where around 80% of children went on to reoffend.

“National’s own chief science advisor in Government Sir Peter Gluckman said that boot camps don’t work, and ‘scared straight’ programmes have been shown to increase crime.

“Christopher Luxon and National are more interested in stoking fear through misinformation than they are in providing solutions. Luxon’s false claim has already been called out by TVNZ fact checkers and is now being shown wrong, for a third month in a row, by Police data.

“National is ignoring the evidence, and ignoring their own advice, to try and sound tough on crime” Ginny Andersen said.

Media contact: Richard Trow 021 2787 233

Notes to editor:

• In 2022, then-Police Minister Chris Hipkins brought together agencies to create an intensive, immediate response programme to target repeat youth offenders and intervene within 48 hours of them offending to ensure we could break the cycle of crime and get them on the straight and narrow.
• The Circuit Breaker programme, piloted in West and South Auckland in December, is aimed at children aged 10-13 who continue to reoffend at a high rate and need a more intensive, wrap-around approach. The programme has since been expanded to Auckland Central, Hamilton, and Christchurch, and will be expanded further in the coming weeks.

Publicly available briefings to then Associate Minister of Social Development Hon Chester Borrows in 2014 reveal that National has known for years that their ‘scared straight’ policies just don’t work.

Labour in Government has:

• Increased Police numbers by 1800, including nearly 700 working on organised crime and 1100 in our communities, and a 50% increase in Police budget since coming to office.
• Delivered more than 1,900 Fog Cannons through MBIE’s Fog Cannon subsidy
• Delivered more than 2,200 security interventions to small businesses through Police’s Retail Crime Prevention Programme
• Resourced Police to lay over 50,000 charges against gang members and their associates under Operation Cobalt
• Passed legislation to increase Police powers to crack down on gang members by going after their assets, giving Police greater powers during times of gang conflict, reducing the ability to money launder, and introducing new offences including discharging a gun with intent to intimidate.
• Done more to reduce the harm caused by firearms than any previous Government, by banning military semi-automatic weapons, buying back more than 60,000 guns, setting up a new Firearms Safety Authority within Police, and introducing Firearms Prohibition Orders

Ram Raid data can be accessed here: https://www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/publications/ram_raid_text_mined_operational_offence_statistics_as_at_15_september_2023.pdf

Ram Raid incidents per month beginning Jan 21:

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