Police data shows action taken by officers against teenagers for car theft in the South has risen 114% since 2020.
From October 2020 to October 2021, teenagers were caught behind the wheel of stolen cars 58 times.
The following year, that number dropped slightly to 56.
Two years ago, that number shot up to 92.
And last year it increased to 124.
Despite Dunedin’s issues often attracting the media spotlight, Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond, of Dunedin, said the city’s issues were no different from the rest of New Zealand.
Police were committed to finding offenders committing crimes and holding them to account wherever possible.
Snr Sgt Bond said Dunedin police had created a two-person youth education team for "early engagement" with young offenders aged between 10 and 13, with the goal of preventing them carrying on committing crimes.
"The team provides support to youth, works with local community providers and makes referrals where appropriate to assist the youth and wider whānau."
Reports in this newspaper from this month alone detail teenagers, as young as 14 years old, stealing cars simply to go joy-riding or using the stolen cars in further alleged crimes.
Snr Sgt Bond said a stolen yellow Mazda Atenza was used to ram-raid the Dunedin Golden Centre Mall on Tuesday, before being driven around the mall’s concourse.
The occupants, believed to be teenagers, attempted to break into the Michael Hill jewellery store, but failed.
A second store was burgled that night and police believe both incidents were related and involved the same teenagers.
On Friday, police said the investigation into the two incidents was ongoing, but officers were following positive lines of inquiry.
On December 4, the Meridian Mall was targeted.
However, last week, Dunedin Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) Detective Senior Sergeant Nik Leigh said a youth had been charged with burglary and unlawful taking in relation to the incident.
On December 10, police said they arrested four teenagers who were joy-riding and ramming stolen cars into one another while speeding through the city.
The following day a family was left fuming after a teenager was spotted posing on top of their Toyota Aqua that had been stolen from their home the night before.
The teen posted a picture of himself standing on the roof with music playing in the background.
His next post was a screenshot of the Otago Daily Times report detailing his and his friends’ alleged theft spree.
On December 17, police said a teenage girl crashed a stolen car with a blown tyre after leading police on a high-speed chase through South Dunedin in the early morning.
