While retail crime incidents have more than doubled since 2018, fewer offenders are being held accountable for their actions, National’s Police spokesperson Mark Mitchell says.

“Despite an enormous spike in retail offending under Labour, the number of convictions for this type of offending have decreased.

“There were 6,424 convictions resulting from retail offending last year – an 8 per cent fall compared to the 7,011 in 2018.

“Staggeringly, this drop in convictions coincides with skyrocketing incidents of retail crime. The 52,356 reported incidents in 2018 more than doubled to 106,566 incidents last year.

“Offenders are simply not being held to account by a Labour Government which has been nothing except soft on crime.

“Amidst an unprecedented crime wave in New Zealand, Labour’s focus has been reducing the prison population rather than keeping Kiwis safe and making sure that criminals face consequences for their actions.

“Sadly, Labour’s illogical priorities are coming home to roost in the form of more ram raids, violent crime, and gang members.

“While Kiwis have had nothing but inaction from this Labour Government, National has released a comprehensive policy to tackle the tsunami of retail offending largely driven by youths.”

A National government will:

• Introduce a Young Serious Offender (YSO) category to increase consequences for repeat offenders.
• Set up Young Offender Military Academies where YSOs can be sent for up to 12 months for intensive rehabilitation.
• Give greater powers for Police to tackle the criminal gangs recruiting young people into a life of crime.
• Investment in community organisations to work with YSOs and support their families.
• Make filming and publishing a crime an offender is involved in an aggravating factor in the Sentencing Act.