Children as young as 11 years old have been involved

Violent burglaries are on the rise in New Zealand cities

• Police attribute the high crime rates among children to the absence of "capable guardians".

  From the source

• Recently, burglaries and break-ins at shops have been frequent.

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• Police say that social factors are behind the exacerbation of crime.

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Late in the evening, Queen Street, the main shopping artery of Auckland, New Zealand, is deserted.

And in the city center, many shops close their doors early, and the owners use iron bars for protection.

Already emptied by the pandemic, some New Zealand cities are now facing rising crime rates.

Police data indicated that violent crime rates in Auckland, the country's largest city, had risen by 30% over pre-pandemic levels and had remained steady compared to the previous year, despite months of lockdown that kept people at home.

In Wellington, recent shootings have caused panic among residents.

A series of burglaries and vehicle storming made headlines, as the perpetrators smashed their cars into glass windows and then stole them.

The age of some of the alleged perpetrators came as a shock, as a police report stated that children as young as 11 had been arrested for thefts.

By international standards, New Zealand cities tend to be relatively safe, but headlines in recent months have sometimes suggested otherwise.

One of them asked on the social networks: “Why is there a gang war in the center of Wellington?” Another asks: “What in the world is happening?

Another robbery and break-in in Auckland!”

Social service agencies and the police say many social deprivations are behind these events, which have been exacerbated by the stress of the pandemic, which has kept many New Zealanders off government support schemes.

In central Auckland, "city rangers" travel through the shopping district in small groups, wearing fluorescent jackets.

A group stopped to chat with passersby, and they gave a cigarette to a woman they called "Aunt".

She sits near the Sky Tower, Auckland's most famous symbol, with her feet bare.

"We call people 'aunt', 'Uncle', 'Cousin' because these people are definitely other people's relatives," says Belen Hewie, a member of the Night's Watch group in central Auckland.

The guards call themselves the "eyes and ears" of the city.

Many spent years distributing food and aid, or walking on community patrols.

They say despair is "growing in the streets".

In it, activist Grace Ngarimata says, “Although the government has spent a lot of money during the pandemic, there is still a gap,” continuing, “Those who fall through those cracks no one looks at them, so they suffer and return to the streets, and start small crimes.”

The guards are particularly concerned about the children and teenagers, who went into isolation when schools closed.

Last week, school administrators said one in five students had missed classes in the last semester.

• The guards are particularly concerned about the children and adolescents, who have gone into isolation when schools are closed.

• 30% higher crime rate in Auckland, compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Able Guardians

Empty streets may be a major reason for the high crime rates in the city, says University of Canterbury criminologist Garrod Gilbert.

He cites the theory that for most crimes to occur, they need "a potential criminal, a suitable target, and the absence of a capable guardian, i.e. people who, by their very presence, prevent the crime from occurring".

In New Zealand cities at the moment, “there is the problem of able guardians,” Gilbert says. “Spaces inhabited by a large number of people prevent crime, and emptiness can generate emptiness, so if people feel unsafe, they are less likely to move out, which makes places look like It is increasingly deserted and weak.”

The rise in crime itself, and the surge of media coverage that has accompanied it, has become a political issue for the government, which this month announced more than half a billion dollars in additional police funding, one of the largest spending packages announced.

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