The Prime Minister is defending her Government's record on crime as she faces increasing pressure to do more after a dairy worker was stabbed to death last week.
Janak Patel was fatally stabbed in the street after following a man who allegedly took the cash register drawer from Rose Cottage Superette in Sandringham in Auckland on Wednesday night.
Patel's death has shocked the tight-knit community and sparked calls for the Government to do more to crack down on crime.
At a vigil at Rose Cottage Superette on Saturday night the President of the Migrant Workers Association told the crowd the "tough on crime" narrative doesn't cut it.
"If it was a deterrent enough to put people behind bars and send them to jail for life, you would only have to do that once to one person and people would never offend again," Anu Kaloti said.
"I feel that's not the ultimate solution to this problem. There needs to be a deep thorough review into why we have come to this point in our society."
It's a sentiment echoed by Dairy and Business Owners Group chairperson Sunny Kaushal who called on the Government to urgently address New Zealand's "crime emergency".
Kaushal said the Government needs to create "urgent actions" and solutions.
"I think now they must listen to the retailers, they must see that there is a crime emergency. This needs to be stopped and this needs to be stopped immediately," he told Newshub.
"The businesses around the country are feeling there is a sense of lawlessness in the entire nation."
Cabinet is meeting on Monday to discuss options regarding crime prevention. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern joined AM ahead of the meeting and was shown a video of a shocking knife-point robbery at a retail store in Hamilton, just days after Patel was killed.
During the robbery, a staff member was forced to kneel on the ground while one person held a knife to his neck. Four others then ransacked the store before the group fled the scene in a car.
After watching the video, Ardern acknowledged the fear retail workers across the country are feeling.
"I've had conversations with those who have had these experiences and you cannot imagine just how frightening it would be in that moment," Ardern said.
The Prime Minister said she knows people want action and offered assurances it is being taken.
"I absolutely appreciate no one wants us to keep just having the conversation about how frightening it is.
"They want it to end and so do we. I think it's really important that, of course, we see people being held to account first and foremost.
"We've seen the number of ram raids this month, for instance, and if I just speak to them for a little bit because they have been one of the areas that have been quite high, they have come down in November and one of the reasons will be because of the large number of prosecutions we have."
But this was challenged by AM co-host Ryan Bridge who pointed out just 22 percent of the people involved in ram raids have charges brought against them.
But Ardern disputed those figures saying, "the numbers I see are much higher than those so I am not sure where you're getting those".
Bridge said his figures were for the 12 months to July according to the New Zealand Police.
"Well the numbers I've seen are much higher than that," Ardern said. But when asked about the numbers, Ardern said, "I don't necessarily want to get into the fact…"
Bridge then cut her off pointing out she just said prosecutions were bringing down ram raids to which she said, "The numbers I've seen is there have been charges laid for hundreds".
She went on to reveal the offenders have been identified and are facing court action in the majority of ram raid cases.
"We've had more prosecutions laid than what we have still open, as in unable to identify or find. So the majority are being detected and then are being charged," she said
"They have found out who it is and they're going through the court system or they're being charged."
The Prime Minister also said the majority of ram raids are being carried out by a small group of offenders.
"We announced recently an intervention where we've identified about 70 kids who are repeatedly involved in some of these incidents. It's not a large number but it's causing a lot of harm. And in those cases, you don't just want to work with the young person, you want to work with the family.
"And so for every individual one of those that have had individual interventions and plans written, half of them now are re-engaging in education and training and we've seen a reduction in re-offending.
"Is it the complete picture? No. Should we be doing more? Absolutely, at every level, it's got to be about the interventions in the first place, responsibility and also the prevention and care for those who are in those workplaces," she said.
When asked whether the Government was considering harsher measures for youth offenders, the Prime Minister said the current law already allows young people to face the youth court if they commit a crime that attracts a penalty of 14 years - such as aggravated assault.
The Prime Minister also ruled out adopting National's proposal of sending young offenders to boot camps saying they won't stop reoffending or make the community safer.
Last week National revealed it would crack down on youth offenders by sending them to military academies to be "reprogrammed".
On Thursday the party released its "Combating Youth Offending Plan", which includes creating a new "Young Serious Offender" (YSO) justice category which National said is intended to target "the ringleaders of ram-raids".
"This will apply to offenders aged 10 to 17 who have committed a serious offence such as a ram-raid, other aggravated burglary, or serious assault at least twice," National said.
"Consequences will include being sent to a Young Offender Military Academy, electronic monitoring, or being subject to an intensive supervision order in their community."
Young offenders aged between 15 and 17 could be sent to the military academy for up to 12 months under the plan. The academies would be delivered in partnership with the Defence Force and other providers.
