Opposition parties have been quick to lash out at the Government after new data showed crime is continuing to soar.
Police figures released on Thursday showed there were at least 388 ram raid-style events in a six-month period to the end of May, including 99 which remained unsolved. This is an average of over two per day.
Police said there were 218 prosecutions for ram raids, while 86 young people were referred to Police Youth Services, during the six-month period.
ACT Party leader David Seymour told Newshub on Friday despite the Government claiming to crack down on ram raids, nothing has changed.
"Youth offenders know they can't be touched, the adults they work with also know this," Seymour said.
"That's why the most brazen and risky crimes are increasingly performed by people too young for the Police to be able to deal with. The biggest loophole in New Zealand's law and order system is a lack of consequences for youth offenders."
On Thursday, the ACT Party announced it would make serious violent crimes that affect workers an aggravating factor in sentencing.
It comes after a pair of hammer-wielding offenders stormed a dairy in Mt Roskill earlier this month, injuring two people.
Seymour said it's time for the victims to be put back at the centre of New Zealand's justice system.
"ACT proposed harsher sentences for crimes occurring in the workplace. Prior to that we've proposed a clear pathway of consequences from instant practical penalties, to ankle bracelets for offenders, to secure facilities to keep offenders in if they do not comply with earlier sanctions," he said.
"Labour's approach to crime has been to get criminals and victims mixed up. Now we're feeling the consequence of having no consequences for crime. It's time for solutions and to put victims back at the centre of our justice system."
It wasn't just Seymour hitting out at the Government, National's police spokesperson Mark Mitchell also criticised them for being "soft on crime".
"Labour has delivered a crime wave the country has never been inflicted with before. The only action they have taken has been to reduce the prison population," Mitchell said.
"At a time when stability and focus was needed, Labour changed Police Ministers four times and none of those Minister's had a clue what to do.
"National takes public safety seriously and will be focused and determined on restoring law and order and allowing Kiwis to start to feel safe again."
Police Minister Ginny Andersen told Newshub on Friday the level of retail crime is "completely unacceptable".
"No one should go to work and feel unsafe. The Government is taking a range of steps to get on top of this problem, including intensive programmes to break the cycle of offending and provide support to retail owners- but we know there is more work we need to do," Andersen said.
The Government's taken several steps to try and address retail crime, including its scheme to subsidise stores to install bollards, fog cannons and other security measures.
Earlier this year, the Government pumped another $9 million into its small retail crime prevention programme.
Newshub asked Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni earlier this month just how bad the crime was in Auckland.
"Oh I wouldn't say it's bad at all," the Deputy Prime Minister said.
Andersen previously said she does "not accept" the Government's record on crime is a "social and moral failure".
