Kerre Woodham: What's caused the drop in ram raids?

Ram raids are down more than 80% for the month of April, compared to last year. Police have identified 12 ram raids in April 2024, compared to 64 in April 2023. Sixty-four! That wasn't even the highest. There was a peak in August 2022 when there were 86 ram raids. There was a total of 433 ram raids in 2022, 288 in 2023, and 67 in the first four months of this year.  

To what can we attribute the drop in ram raids? It would be nice to think that the tougher measures, The Ram Raid Offending and Related Measures Amendment Bill passing its first reading would have contributed. This bill will add smash and grabs to the Crimes Act and give police the power to prosecute ram raiders as young as 12 years old. And who do you think proposed that? It was Labour. They had seen the writing on the wall by that stage. You know the number of ram raids were just beyond the pale and people were absolutely fed up with what looked like inaction on the part of the Labour government, so they were the ones who introduced The Ram Raid Offending and Related Measures Amendment Bill and it passed its first reading with support from National and ACT, the Greens and Te Pati Māori opposed it (In a stunning narrative twist you probably picked that up?).  

Or it could be the Kotahi te Whakaaro Programme. You might remember that when we interviewed the police officer involved with that, John Campbell also highlighted that it was a multi-agency approach, a wraparound approach to dealing with young ram raiders. Because these kids are young, and as soon as they got the first report, then they would get the schools involved, the families involved. It was so multi agency and seemed to be working and we had high hopes. I'm pretty sure it got continued funding because it was showing positive results in terms of young people not reoffending after completing the programme. So it could be that.  

Or it could just be that ram raids have gone out of fashion. You know, there have been enough of them on TikTok, enough of them on social media, and now they're just not cool. Word on the street, they're not cool anymore. I don't know.  

Presumably, there was an end purpose to the ram raids, with the jewellery being targeted. There was conjecture that perhaps the gangs were looking for gold as a way of buy, sell, and exchange - that they would take the jewellery, melt it down, and use it as currency. That was just conjecture. I don't know, but I am just jolly glad that the number of ram raids have gone down because the reduction in ram raids is a reduction in trauma. It's a reduction in upset. It's a reduction in financial loss and the expense of policing these wee oiks. Kotahi te Whakaaro was not cheap, but if it was working, all well and good.  

I don't know about you, I have noticed fewer gang patches on the street, less obvious swaggering, but that is only anecdotal. I would love to hear from you as to what your anecdotal experience is. Is the message that's been sent, and you would have to say it started with Labour when it went to The Ram Raid Offending and Related Measures Amendment Bill, they were the ones that introduced it because they knew the public had had enough. Is the general message of ‘up with this we will not put’, made so loud and so clear that the gangs have had to pull back a bit from the obvious swaggering, from the we own the streets, we own the stores, we'll do what we like. Or is it just a change in business in inverted commas, direction from them? Or is it simply that ram raids have gone out of fashion? If only murdering babies would go out of fashion.   

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Kerrywood and Mornings podcast from News
Talk set B.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Ram raids are down more than eighty eight to zero
percent for the month of April compared to last year.
Police have identified twelve RAM raids in April twenty twenty
four compared to sixty four in April twenty three. Sixty four.
That wasn't even the highest. There was a peak in
August twenty twenty two when there were eighty six RAM raids.

(00:38):
There were a total of four hundred and thirty three
RAM raids in twenty twenty two, two hundred and eighty
eight and twenty three sixty seven in the first four
months of this year. To what can we attribute the
drop in RAM raids? It would be nice to think
that the tougher Measures, the RAM Raid Offending and Related

(01:01):
Measures Amendment Bill passing its first reading, would have contributed.
This would add this bill well, add smashing grabs to
the Crimes Act and give police the power to prosecute
RAM raiders as young as twelve years old. And who
do you think proposed that? Who do you think proposed that?

(01:25):
It was labor? They had seen the writing on the
wall by that stage, you know, the number of ram
raids were just beyond the pale, and people were absolutely
fed up with what looked like an action on the
part of the Labor government. So they were the ones
who introduced the ram Raid Offending and Related Measures Amendment Bill,
and it passed its first reading with support from National

(01:45):
and Act. The Greens Ante Pati Maori opposed it and
a stunning narrative twist. You probably picked that up, or
it could be the cootah te Ficado program. You might
remember that. When we interviewed the police officer involved with that,
John Campbell also highlighted and it was a multi agency approach,

(02:08):
a wrap around approach to dealing with young RAM raiders
because these kids are young, and as soon as they
got the first report, then they would get the schools involved,
the families involved. It was so multi agency and seemed
to be working and we had high hopes. I'm pretty

(02:29):
sure it got continued funding because it was showing positive
results in terms of young people not reoffending after completing
the program. So it could be that, uh, it was showing,
as I say, really good results, and it you'd like
to think that you wouldn't just drop programs because they

(02:52):
were with the previous administration. I don't think that happens
either with labor or with national They do look at
programs that are working and they stick with them. Or
it could just be that ram raids have gone out
of fashion. You know, there have been enough of them
on TikTok, enough of them on social media, and now
they're just not cool word on the street. They're not

(03:15):
cool anymore. I don't know. Presumably there was an end
purpose to the ram raids with the jewelry being targeted.
There was conjecture that perhaps the gangs were looking for
gold as a way of, you know, by selling exchange,

(03:38):
that they would take the jewelry, melt it down and
use it as currency. That was just conjecture. I don't know,
but I am just jolly glad that the number of
ram raids have gone down because the reduction ram raids
is a reduction in trauma. It's a reduction and upset.
It's a reduction and financial loss and the expense of

(04:01):
policing these wee ois. You know, the katahitv hakada was
not cheap. But if it was working, all well and good.
I don't know about you. I have noticed fewer gang
patches on the street, less obvious swaggering, But that is
only anecdotal. I would love to hear from you as

(04:24):
to what your anecdotal experiences. Is the message that's been sent,
and you would have to say it started with labor
when it went to the ram raid Offending and Related
Measures Amendment film, they were the ones that introduced it
because they knew the public had enough. Is the general

(04:45):
message of up with this? We will not put made
so loud and so clear that the gangs have had
to pull back a bit from the obvious swaggering, from
the we own the streets, we own the stores, will
do what we like. Or is it just a change
in business in inverted commons direction from them, or is

(05:05):
it simply that ram raids have gone out of fashion,
if only murdering babies would go out of fashion.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
For more from Carry Wooden Mornings, listen live to News
Talks a B from nine am weekdays, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.