A local cop has said that 80 per cent of ram raids are committed by offenders younger than 18 with 70 per cent aged between 13 and 15.
The Rotary Club of Somerville hosted an informational discussion at Te Tuhi on June 15 to hear from the Counties Manukau Central Area Commander Inspector Rodney Honan and senior sergeant Anson Lin.
Honan and Lin covered a broad range of topics – youth crime, gangs, road safety, ram-raiding, vehicle theft – with a statistical and informative presentation which included statistics relating to various crimes within the Howick Ward.
Stolen vehicles in east Auckland have gone up 12 per cent, Honan says, with other areas suffering even higher rates of 40 per cent. In terms of gang activity, there were 23 drives by shootings and night arsons between May 24 and June 7.
Operation Dairyland is an operation that the police criminal investigation branch is running into the Killer Beez and the Tribesmen gangs. Since May 21, the police have arrested 21 Killer Beez and eight Tribesmen.
“The concerning part is the firearms,” Honan says. “Our people out on the street every-day are coming across firearms.”
Lin then spoken on the recent spike of ram raids. “Those offenders are young people under the age of 15,” he says.
“Eighty per cent are under the age of 18, and 70 per cent are between 13 and 15. We’re dealing with young children here.”
Lin says that, in order to suppress ram raids, the police patrol known hotspots.
He recommended the use of Community Cam, a voluntary, non-for-profit community initiative where people can register a property with CCTV, and the NZ Police can refer to the website to quickly identify CCTV locations of registered users in and around the scene of the crime.
The discussion was wrapped up with questions from the audience, including from Howick Local Board member Peter Young and Howick Ward councillor Paul Young.
