A business advocate is calling for the families of young offenders involved in ram-raids to be investigated by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD).
It comes after internal police documents obtained by Newshub showed in the first six months of this year, there have been 254 ram-raids - that's a 518 percent increase on the first six months of 2018.
A police report analysing a year of ram-raids found 76 percent were committed by youths under 17 years old and 17 percent were under 13 years old.
Dairy and Business Association chair Sunny Kaushal told Newshub Late on Thursday there has been a "staggering breakdown in law and order".
"As you know, we are in a crime emergency and it's right now, It's right here," Kaushal told Newshub Late host Ingrid Hipkiss.
"So it's quite a serious situation. The dairy owners are on the front line and being the most affected businesses by this senseless crime."
He's calling on MSD to investigate the families of the young offenders who are involved in ram-raids.
"The police need to be tougher and also this is crying out for MSD to put the families of these young offenders under the microscope because something has gone terribly wrong with their upbringing in some way," Kaushal said.
It comes as Auckland sees a spate of smash and grab burglaries and ram raids - in some cases committed by children as young as 12 years old.
The latest incident was on Thursday night when a Michael Hill jewellery store in the Westgate Mall was targeted in a smash and grab.
"A small group of people in Michael Hill who were armed with weapons (not firearms), smashed cabinets and took items before fleeing in a car. Police have attended and inquiries are ongoing," police said in a statement.
Additionally on Thursday morning, thieves attempted to ram-raid a Noel Leeming shop in the Botany Town Centre but failed because bollards stopped them from crashing into the store.
"The offenders' vehicle damaged the front of the store. However metal bars prevented the vehicle going further in, and nothing was stolen," police said.
Two days beforehand, a Michael Hill jewellery store in the Botany Town Centre was targeted in an aggravated robbery.
Chris Hipkins took over from Poto Williams as Police Minister last month, but even though Kaushal is hopeful he'll tackle the rise in crime he isn't confident.
"We have very high expectations the new Police Minister would make a lot of changes and he is going to make a difference to what the law and order situation is in New Zealand, but unfortunately, it's a month over and we haven't heard back from the Minister as yet," he told Newshub late.
"In fact, we had also written to the Police Minister for a meeting on the very second day when he was announced as the new Minister and also to the Justice Minister, both of them, unfortunately, none of them has come back as yet."
Kaushal said he'd like to see an increased presence of officers on the streets around New Zealand to put criminals off.
"First of all, we'd like to see more police on the streets and on patrols. The more visible police, the more of a deterrent and the lessens crime, that's very clear," he said.
"To the Minister, we would like to give some suggestions and recommendations about what needs to be done urgently, which have been overlooked over time.
"This crime emergency needs a national discussion because a softly, softly approach is leading us down a dark path."
After months of brazen and violent crime, the Government announced last week a suite of measures to crack down on gangs - promising to "hit them where it hurts".
Watch the full interview with Sunny Kaushal above.
