May 25, 2023
Māori solution best for ram raids
Deputy Police Commissioner Wally Haumaha says investment into Māori organisations on the ground is the best way to stop young people falling into a life of crime.
He told Radio Waatea talk host John Tamihere a post-Covid spike in youth offending runs counter to the long term trend, but police are getting on top of it.
He says police have prosecuted more than 700 ram raid offenders and made almost 300 youth referrals.
That gives them a sense of the social and family dysfunction driving that crime and the sort of whole of community response needed to address it.
“The greatest hope I have is our investment into Maori organisations, particularly dealing with Maori kids, where after the backgrounds, the knowledge, the cultural connections of those people who have that expertise around the table to understand what these kids are going through and provide the best alternate pathway for them to get off hat slippery slope,” Mr Haumaha says.
He’s seeing the community approach working with the Pae Oranga community panels not just for Maori kids but for offenders of all ethnicities.