Who can claim credit for the dramatic reduction in ram raids? - Audrey Young

Ram-raids used to feature in the news regularly during their peak in 2022. Photo / Hayden Woodward

After Labour leader Chris Hipkins dropped his clanger recently claiming ram-raids were being covered up by the “Tory” media to help the current Government, it was clear what he should have said.

Or at least could have said. That is, the dramatic drop in ram-raids is the result of interventions set up by Labour before it left office in November 2023.

Of course, National disputes that and claims it has created an environment in which criminal offending is being more comprehensively addressed.

But what neither party can dispute is the dramatic drop, from 714 at its peak in 2022, to just 45 so far this year.

The figures were relatively low when Labour came to office in 2017 and then rocketed during its second term, which ended in November 2023.

• 2017 – 100
• 2018 – 126
• 2019 – 180
• 2020 – 139
• 2021 – 410
• 2022 – 714
• 2023 – 495
• 2024 – 209
• 2025 – 45 so far

Hipkins is close to the issue because when it became clear that ram-raids were out of control, the Prime Minister of the day, Jacinda Ardern, put him in charge of addressing it by making him Police Minister.

And when he became Prime Minister in 2023, he put Ginny Andersen in charge of it, as Police Minister, then Justice Minister.

A lot of attention was initially given to retailers and giving them tools such as bollards and fog cannons to deter ram-raids. Then there were the offenders themselves.

There was a small group of repeat offenders, about 100, who came from homes where they were regularly exposed to family violence, and had already come to the attention of Oranga Tamariki, Andersen said.

“Post-Covid, all of those people had been locked down in homes that were already dysfunctional, so there is a theory that that contributed to it.”

But Andersen said the most effective intervention was a programme called Circuit-Breaker that Hipkins began. It brought together services such as Education, Health, Oranga Tamariki and Justice and gave intensive wrap around support to the family.

And then it was enhanced to a fast-track intervention. Instead of waiting for three weeks for a family group conference to be convened, and allowing repeat offences during the delay, the response would occur immediately afterwards, within 24–48 hours.

“That is what started to drive down the repeat ram-raids.”

The intervention could involve such measures as getting mental health support for the mother, putting food on the family table, and getting school uniforms for the kids.

When she took over in January 2023, there were about 90 ram-raids a month, and by October, they were down to about 30 a month. The Circuit-Breaker programme was the biggest single factor in reducing the ram-raids, she said.

“We introduced that programme and implemented it. This Government knows that it works because they have kept that programme and they have actually expanded it.

“So while they talk about boot camps, which don’t work from my point of view, they have continued to fund Circuit-Breaker because it works.”

Police Minister Mark Mitchell says Labour allowed ram-raids to rocket under its watch, was too slow in addressing them, and should not be claiming credit for their reduction.

“The fact of the matter is that is a bit like congratulating the arsonist that burnt down the house and has then got the garden hose and is trying to hose it down.”

And while Mitchell acknowledges the Circuit-Breaker programme, he said the previous Government only acted because of pressure.

“They had media pressure, they had public pressure, and they had political pressure that pushed them into having to do something. Thank God they did, but it was way too slow.”

He said the decrease in ram-raids under the current Government had accelerated because it had prioritised law and order.

It had scrapped the goal to reduce the prison population (Labour scrapped it too, just weeks before the 2023 election), it increased police on the beat, and launched gang disruption units and anti-gang legislation.

“The gangs are behind a lot of the youth offending that you see.

“I think that is why you saw a quicker deceleration of ram-raids, not just ram-raids, but crime across the board.”

There was still a long way to go, he said.

“But I think you are starting to see things moving in the right direction.”