Ginny Andersen attempting to justify rising crime rates by saying it's now easier to report offending shows how out of touch the Police Minister is, National’s Justice and acting Police spokesperson Paul Goldsmith says.

“Since Labour came to power, for almost every type of offending there have been more victims of crime.

“Despite this, the Minister is dismissing Kiwis’ real concerns that crime is rising to suggest that it’s because it’s easier to report offending.

“If that is what she believes, she needs to get out and meet a few retailers and ask if they think that crime rates have not increased.

“This morning, Police Association Vice President Paul Ormerod told Newstalk ZB that crime is being reported more because there is actually more crime to report.

“After five years of Labour we have seen a 99 per cent increase in retail crime, a 33 per cent increase in violent crime, a 551 per cent increase in ram raids and a 66 per cent increase in the number of gang members.

“Labour’ soft-on-crime approach is obviously devastating for victims, but it also hurts the economy and makes life tougher for all New Zealanders.

“When retail businesses are considering closing down and are scared to invest because they are almost expecting to be ram-raided, that is hurting New Zealand’s productivity.

“Sadly, that has become a reality under this soft-on-crime Government. Labour’s only target in law and order has been to reduce the prison population by 30 per cent.”

Unlike Labour, National has a plan to restore law and order. National will back frontline police officers and give them four new tools to make their jobs easier. National would:

• Ban gang patches, which have been the recent fuel for the worst gun violence seen in New Zealand.
• Give police non-association powers to prevent gang members from communicating and planning criminal activity.
• Allow police to issue dispersal notices where gang members come together in public to intimidate, threaten, and sometimes assault members of the public.
• Give police the warrantless search powers they need to take the guns out of the hands of violent armed gang members.