Democracy HQ A personal view, by Councillor Steve Morris

Last month, Minister of Justice Kiri Allan was featured on the AM Show telling New Zealanders that youth crime is at its lowest in decades. Yet earlier that morning, another shopkeeper was left cleaning up the mess from another ram raid. Unfortunately, it's a picture that's become all too commonplace in our communities recently. So how do we reconcile the Minister's comments with what we can see with our own eyes?

Reported youth offending has been falling since 2010. That's positive, but only half the story. There has been a recent increase in youth crime, but worse, violent crime has rocketed nearly 40 per cent since Labour took office in 2017.

I believe that policy choices by the Government have contributed to the violent crime trend.

The result is what we see daily on our screens and in our communities. It's why businesses and their customers feel less safe than ever.

The explosion in ram raids coincides with a policy change two years ago that hampers a police officer's ability to chase an offender.

National's Police Spokesman Simeon Brown warned this policy would 'embolden criminals who now know that officers can't give chase,” which is precisely what happened.

Nearly 10,000 people evaded police last year, more than double the number two years ago. Worse, they are getting away with it; the number of drivers not identified has nearly tripled. A choice by the Government has encouraged more offending.

Violent crime is rising, and so are gang numbers, increasing in the Bay of Plenty by 44 per cent since 2017. These issues require accountability and not deflection. AM show host Ryan Bridge had none of what the Minister was selling last week, saying her response to legitimate questions on crime would be offensive to some.

'Talk to any normal person on the street, and they will tell you they are more scared now than they have probably been in their grown lives about crime in New Zealand, and that's not just because it's in our heads.”

I agree, it's not just in people's heads; we can see it with our eyes too.