Teenage crims’ online bragging is ‘tragedy’

New Zealand’s top youth crime cop says footage of youths bragging about violent crimes is ‘‘an absolute tragedy’’.

Police national youth manager Inspector Ross Lienert said it was important to address the issues, including alternatives to remanding teens in youth justice facilities such as small group family homes and foster care.

‘‘Clearly if kids are going into secure remand and coming out with associates that result in this behaviour, clearly that’s not what we want.’’ His comments come after Stuff earlier revealed youth gangs across New Zealand were taking to social media to boast about crimes, including robberies and ram raids.

Some post security footage of robberies, news articles about the crimes, and photos of them with the supposed loot on their Facebook pages and on Youtube.

Lienert said the footage ‘‘saddened’’ him. ‘‘Sadly I’m not surprised because over the last few years we’ve seen a lot of footage along those lines.

‘‘These kids are causing a lot of harm and creating a lot of victims and that’s not OK.’’

Lienert said nationally youth crime had halved since 2009 but the top-end of youth criminals continued to cause issues for police. ‘‘It’s important to understand that there is a place sadly for secure remands and it’s always that balance between keeping communities safe and dealing with underlying causes.’’

Lienert said it was about getting the youths out of the youth justice facilities as soon as possible and into alternate residences that set them up for better outcomes.

One of the gangs understood to have bolstered its numbers inside Te Puna Wai, We Strait Aych (WSH), is understood to be responsible for a series of robberies at a Christchurch Night ‘n Day store over six months. The store’s staff were threatened with pistols, machetes and knives by masked youths targeting cigarettes and cash. Fifteen people were arrested. Lienert said he did not know much about WSH, but added that youth gangs were systematic of what happened when youths were sent to secure remand.

He said the youths brought with them a ‘‘huge range’’ of issues that made them who they are. ‘‘It’s almost always linked to poor family, poor upbringing, exposure to violence, alcohol and drugs. We cannot excuse their behaviour but certainly we can understand where they come from. That’s why we focus on working with that underlying stuff to stop them from causing the harm that they currently do.’’

He said despite the unacceptable behaviour exemplified by the youths boasting about their crimes online, he said he was ‘‘optimistic’’ about what police and other agencies such as Oranga Tamariki had in motion over the next few years.

Minister of Police Stuart Nash said he did not want to ‘‘feed the desire for notoriety’’ the offenders sought and would not comment on the individuals in the photos. ‘‘The photos and video appear to have been posted a year ago but the harm caused by the crimes does remain. Small business owners deserve to be able to go about their daily work and trade without being confronted by these types of offenders.’’

Nash said a major focus of the coalition government’s commitment to 1800 extra police would be on community policing and crime prevention.