'Going toward wrong direction': New Zealand sees spike in retail crime

ANKARA

New Zealand is witnessing an increase in retail crimes and ram raids as police say it is continuing to rise despite the government’s efforts.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins also said that there has been a "big spike" in retail crimes in recent years, and said further measures are needed to prevent it, Radio New Zealand quoted him as saying on Tuesday.

The latest police data showed that ram raids rose 55% nationwide over the past three months and 68% in April alone, according to the report by the state-run broadcaster.

Mark Michell, the National Party's spokesperson for the police, said there is no reason that New Zealand should not be the safest country in the world, "but it's going toward the wrong direction."

"What we do know is that it's very obvious that the ram raids, the aggravated robberies, and this youth and juvenile offending is not only continuing, it's continuing to increase," RNZ quoted Michell as saying.

In 2022, over 241,600 cases of shoplifting crimes, robbery, burglary, and theft were reported to police, an increase from nearly 208,500 in 2021.

It was around 186,000 cases reported to police in 2020.

On Monday, the government announced a further NZ$11 million (over $6.6 million) to its fog cannon scheme to provide fog cannons at a subsidized rate to business owners.

"Today's announcement is another step forward in supporting those affected businesses who are at risk of those sorts of crime but we are also going to be prioritizing other work on this issue and I hope to have more to say on that soon," Hipkins had said.

The authorities are also considering to launch a program for offenders age between 15 to 17, sending them to military academies for up to one year and keeping them away from gangs.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid