Although youth crime is a popular topic, Tauranga Police Senior Sergeant Glenn Saunders says despite the trending discussion, youth have been engaging in less crime overall in Tauranga.

He says after speaking to his youth aid colleagues and others who tackle local youth crime, there has 'actually been a drop” in overall offences by people under 18 years old.

According to Glenn, the perception of an increase in youth crime this year has come from the type of offences some youth are committing.

'With the nature of some of the offending young people are getting involved in such as ram raids, it is in the public eye all the time.

'This gives the impression crime across the board has increased, but it has actually gone the other way.”

Glenn says this doesn't mean youth crime 'isn't happening,” as crime occurs across a 'whole spectrum” of offence types.

He says youth offences being in the public eye more often does 'not necessarily” mean there is an increase.

He believes social media has 'a lot to answer for” regarding the impression of a rise in youth offences, but it is overall a broader issue.

'There are a lot of social issues at play here. It is not something even police as an organisation can fix on our own.

'We want to hold people accountable for offending and prevent offending. That is our aim.”

On the community response, Glenn says there are several ways Tauranga's people can assist police in tackling the issue of youth crime.

'Keep alert, and let us know what is going on around the place. If you suspect offending taking place by young people by all means, give us a call.

'Also, be aware of the fact that there are a lot of social issues at play, and it is not just a matter of arresting these young people and taking action through the youth justice or criminal justice system.

'There needs to be an understanding there is a lot of different things at play with youth crime.”

The types of offences youth commit is very broad according to Saunders, who suggests there is a 'wide range” of offending.

'It's anything from low level stuff to high level stuff. Youth are not specifically engaged in one area of crime. It would be very hard to determine an average age as well. We see offenders young as 11 right up to 17 and 18.”

More broadly, Glenn says crime overall is down in the Western Bay of Plenty.

'There are different crime categories. Some of those will be up, but overall crime is actually trending down.”

He reiterates to solve youth crime is a 'big fix” which will take several organisations to address the core issues.

For more information on how to report a crime or youth offence to the police, visit the New Zealand police website, https://www.police.govt.nz/advice-services/how-report-crime-or-incident.