Blaming teens for ram raids isn’t a solution, it’s an emotional knee jerk
I think the adults need to take over the ram raid debate and seek means to de-escalate this rather than add fuel to the fire.
I appreciate and fully acknowledge seeing children commit organised crime like this is genuinely concerning to the wider community.
But I beg us all to take a deep breath, appreciate the uniqueness of this moment and the extreme pressure on so many people right now.
I’ve said from the beginning that Covid is a triple peaked crisis, the first was the physical impact on physical health, the second was the economic impact and the third was the impact on mental health.
Human Beings are social creatures, the worst punishment is isolation – we’ve all gone through a unique universal experience and it’s damaged many.
We are seeing that mental health pressure exploding everywhere from the Dumb Lives Matter protest on Parliament’s Lawns, to domestic violence, to fights in Supermarkets to a spike in crime, to the increasingly toxic online misogyny, to the Wellington Middle Class Marxists screaming to send in the military to bash protestors they didn’t like…
…everyone has been impacted mentally by these unprecedented times and the true cost is yet to be felt.
Polling for the Mental Health Foundation found 36 per cent of people surveyed were experiencing poor emotional wellbeing, up from 27 per cent a year ago.
Add to all of this stress the enormous jump in rents and cost of living crisis and you have desperation, anxiety, anger and fear all combining into the current maelstrom.
That’s why I think Mark Mitchell’s suggestion to revoke the Police chase policy is probably the single worst thing we could do behind arming Police with heat seeking missiles.
Don’t get me wrong, I have a certain appreciation for Mark, I thought the Police Minister was petty and beneath the Mana of the Minister when she denied him access to speaking with Police Commanders, and we’ve enjoyed vigorous debates in the past, and while his point that these kids seem fearless and live under the false illusion there are no consequences to their actions, announcing a change in Police policy at the height of this ram raid crisis is only going to scare the fucking bejesus out of these adrenalin pumping kids and will almost certainly result in fatalities.
We don’t need dead people added to this problem.
Of course every effort must be taken to catch every perpetrator and have them dealt appropriately through Youth Court processes or social agencies, but understanding these ram raids are the psychological and economic symptom of a deeper malaise that is running through post-Peak Covid NZ is a far greater starting point in terms of decision making than allowing our fear and anger dictate policing policy that might make things worse.
This is but the beginning of the post traumatic trauma this country is working through, we have to de-escalate and act like adults here, not become a fucking Lynch mob!
We have enough Lynch mobs as it is.
These damaged kids need our help, their criminality is a reflection of a gated neoliberal society who enrich the wealthy while providing crumbs for the poor.
The economic outlook is far more grim than we are admitting and these pressures are only building.
We need alternatives, not more of the same failed conservative social policy knee jerks.
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The kids wear cloth masks in public to protect themselves?
The kids saw their parents mentally struggle to pay the rent to the scumlord who Jacinda gave 300k tax free capital gain PER HOUSE!! Whilst they got fuck all. South Africa here we come!!!
Damn… you really are fixated on South Africa ain’t ya?
They’re not even teens – they were 7 (SEVEN!), ten, 11 and twelve in one raid.
They are CHILDREN!
There are systemic problems here and I believe these kids are learning their skills from peer groups and older family members and friends. One can not blame the Police and the current Government for these problems, they have been growing year on year, where now certain sectors of society see gangsterism and crime as acceptable behaviour. They actually do not know what normal acceptable behaviour is in todays society.
Ngungukai. Yes, I agree. Denny is also right in saying that housing is a major problem. The homeless situation is a social and moral disgrace. Some of these children have no secure anchorage in their young lives, and they never have had, and the effects of coronavirus scenarios have exacerbated already- unstable family bases.
.
I read it a few years back by a commentary that where you have a very strong upper class with lots of power you see the same trend eventually at the bottom. The bottom build up a similar way but use the power of might over money to get their way. This is the course we are on now
Bring back the cane
I will of course find it interesting to hear National saying it’s the government’s fault for these ram-raids and yet when they were in government they(National)were noticeably quiet on condemning the Roast Busters and their(the Roast Busters) raping young women after getting them drunk or drugged.
I just wonder where are the parents of the younger offenders today???!!! Sure there are some fantastic parents whose kids have gone off the rails. My brother once got mixed up with a bad crowd and partook of burglaries despite the fact our parents were JW and abhorred any crime upon others.
I am sure during these difficult times that ram-raids are a problem the world over. There is no magic bullet or whatever that will change things. It’s the sad reality of living in a unpredictable world that is full of daily challenges.
Sadly I feel those young people that chose a life of crime will either end up in jail or dead.
…are we not allowed to mention the ethnicity of these minors? Been listening to RNZ National and they twist around awkwardly not to mention it. Is there a “D’ notice on this?
Well James we haven’t caught them so how would we know?
I agree with you on the Neo liberal gated community Martyn it is indeed a real concept and in play right now. Even though It is denied by those at the business end who are gaining from it. They love it and don’t really give much of a care for anyone below their own station in life.
these kids are the real victims! let’s just give them more money!
that’ll fix it
You stable geniuses still can’t say UBI.
Frank what else has been happening over the last 30 years? Increasing poverty, increasingly unaffordable housing, and the rising general cost of living in a low wage economy. But somehow it’s all about setting treaty grievances?
We have been in a low wage economy for many years, of which Bill English was a strong proponent and of which Labour and Ardern are attempting to address with strong opposition, opposition for opposition sake or in ACT’s case, them being a strong proponent of the free market and liberal trade policies, keeping employees below minimum wage.
Bert, Yes you’re right about slippery English’s part in helping to perpetrate social divisions, and doing it in an unbelievably unrealistic way by enticing exploitable immigrant labour and seemingly oblivious to practicalities like housing and accommodation. Politicians well provided for by we the taxpayers, may end up too detached from reality to be of much use, but the low wage economy scenario is nasty.
Acouple of the builders on the site that I am working at are ex BPs, they ay are in their mid twenties now. S to say that anyone who comes into contact with gangs is beyond help is a gross lie. No one is beyond help, some people just need different motivations to change behaviors.