“Some of these young people start committing theft and burglary as young as eight years old.”
Senior Sergeant Lincoln Sycamore of Gisborne police said a high percentage of Gisborne’s burglary crime was committed by people under the age of 24.
“They tend to be youth not engaged in education either at school or in some sort of training.
“As the old saying goes — ‘Beware idle hands’.”
Mr Coster said young people also committed the majority of vehicle crime, which was a precursor to committing more serious offending.
“Through Operation Focus all districts will prioritise addressing young people’s offending and that will include enforcement and prevention activity.
“Police have a number of ongoing prevention programmes to address youth offending and we will be looking around the country to see which of these is the most effective and where else we can implement them.”
How to address offendingSnr Sgt Sycamore said whenever a youth offender was engaged in the justice process, police developed plans with their agreement, and the agreement of the court to see how best to address their offending.
“We also engage in some sort of restorative justice process to bring some closure to the victim of the crime.
“The process is supported by a number of social agencies like Turanga Social Services and other non-governmental organisations,” he said.
“We look to hold young people accountable for their actions. That is a high priority.”
Snr Sgt Sycamore said police dealing with young offenders seek to address the offending by re-engaging them with education and/or vocational training through the local services available.
“The success rate varies. It is a case-by-case situation. Some respond to it and others do not.
“We have found that if young offenders have a good support network they are less likely to re-offend. So we work with their families as well.”
Snr Sgt Sycamore said police try to take a “holistic” approach to it and help empower families to solve their wider family issues.
“There are so many factors at play but police do their best to steer families in the right direction, so they can better help their young people who break the law.”
Operation Focus is one of a number of tactics by police nationally as part of an increased focus on burglary. For the year to April 2016, burglary accounted for 26 percent of all crime.
“We are determined to better address this issue,” Mr Coster said.
“There are also steps the community can take to lessen their exposure to both burglary and to vehicle theft. Burglaries predominantly occur in central city locations and in the suburbs adjacent to them, and large car parking areas such as in shopping complexes see a high rate of offences of unlawful taking,” Mr Coster said.
“Often these are opportunistic crimes in places where young people are looking for and find easy targets. People need to be aware of what they leave in their cars.
“Also they should ensure that their homes are secure and report suspicious activity to police as soon as possible.”
