The Assistant Police Commissioner has conceded officers get frustrated by repeat offenders but offered assurances they are working hard to enforce the law.
Richard Chambers joined AM on Friday to discuss a recent crime spree in Auckland which saw 15 young people arrested.
The youths were aged between 11 and 16 years old and were arrested in connection to several car thefts and for fleeing police.
The country, and in particular Auckland, has been plagued by a spate of smash-and-grab style burglaries and ram raids over the past year, often committed by children.
The neverending robberies are causing huge concern among retail business owners and staff and have prompted calls for the Government to do more to address the issues.
Speaking with AM on Friday Chambers said police are working incredibly hard to catch the people responsible and have had some fantastic results.
"What we are seeing with ram raids and smash and grab style commercial burglaries is the age of these young people is concerningly low at around about 15 on average.
"The 15 youths that we caught the night before last in Auckland ranged from 11 years of age and 16 years of age. [It was] magnificent work by police staff… to apprehend all 15 [but] for many of those sadly this is not the first time they've been involved in committing crimes and our job as law enforcement is to put the best case forward to the courts."
Chambers said police officers are aware of the harm caused by the burglaries and are working hard to ensure those responsible face consequences.
"When it comes to smash-and-grab style robberies or ram raids, we are talking about serious offending here. Offending that carries terms of imprisonment of 10 years and 14 years for aggravated behaviour."
He said a number of the burglaries involve groups of youths working together which makes it aggravated.
Chambers said so far this year police in Auckland and Waikato have "put nearly 350 people before the court for various serious offending".
"We are doing that on behalf of the retail community because we know they're feeling the pain here and our staff across districts will continue to be the best they possibly can be to get the results that not only the retailers deserve, but also New Zealanders," he said.
Chambers also admitted repeat offenders cause frustration among police officers as well as the public. But he offered assurances police are doing everything they can to get justice.
"Our job as police is to enforce the law. We will work with the law whatever that is and at times, of course, we do get a bit frustrated because recidivism does occur with some of these young and adult offenders.
"But we will always put our best foot forward. And where we feel it is appropriate that bail is opposed… we will do that. This is serious offending that is causing harm."
Last month the Government announced a suite of measures aimed at tackling youth crime. Part of the change includes amending youth engagement and employment programmes to allow thousands more young people to participate.
In addition, all children aged under 14 years old caught ram raiding in Counties Manukau or west Auckland would be referred to a "social wellbeing board" as part of a cross-agency intervention.
Another measure was the scaling up of family functional therapy and community-led youth inclusion programmes, with some 230 additional families set to benefit.
