Revelations of extensive breaches of electronic monitoring show that Labour’s soft-on-crime approach is actively endangering the public, National’s Corrections spokesperson Mark Mitchell says.

“A report obtained by the New Zealand Herald says that violent criminals are exploiting a ‘significant vulnerability’ of the electronic monitoring system by covering bracelets with tin foil to evade detection and that public safety is being compromised.

“It means that New Zealanders cannot be confident that offenders on electronic monitoring are being closely monitored or that the practice is stopping them from further offending.

“This is another example of how the Labour Government’s criminal-cuddling, soft-on-crime approach has failed to keep Kiwis safer.

“Labour’s ideological opposition to prisons means that more high-risk offenders receive electronic monitoring sentences. The number of gang members sentenced to home detention has already increased by 60 per cent under Labour.

“The result is heinous crimes are being committed by convicted criminals the public has a right to believe are being monitored. These crimes include a violent criminal in Canterbury who was able to escape detection using tinfoil, who allegedly went to his ex-partner’s home, assaulting her multiple times, threatening to kill her and attempting to stab her.

“Meanwhile, another offender on electronic monitoring went on a firearms rampage in Henderson, shooting at Police, after having breached bail a month prior.

“Anyone that is offending while on electronic monitoring deserves to face serious consequences, and National has already said it will reform our sentencing laws so there are serious consequences for serious crime. This includes limiting the discounts that judges can apply at sentencing.

"While Labour persists with reducing the prison population while violent crime increases, National will take real action to restore law and order.”

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