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Oranga Tamariki's concerned about youth gangs -- with more kids showing up to OT youth residences with patches and full-face tattoos.

The Justice Committee yesterday discussed the apparent rise in youth crime.

OT’s Director of Youth Justice Ben Hannifin says there are youth gangs who have an affiliation with adult gangs, and they're the more concerning ones.

“We're seeing a lot more kids in the residences now patched, fully-faced tattooed, there's definitely prospecting and we didn't see that a few years ago,” he said.

Meanwhile, Police intelligence suggests there’s a link between the increasing number of ram raids being committed by youth offenders and an increasing presence of youth gangs.

Looking at incidents from November 2020 to last October, it says in Waikato especially, offending is predominantly being committed by youth gangs.

Members often meet while in juvenile custody and there's a level of sophistication to their offending.

The offending was also often posted online – and in Waikato, it was sometimes live streamed for others to view.

National's Police spokesperson Mark Mitchell reckons there’s an ongoing reluctance from Government in terms of admitting adult gangs have an influence on these youth offenders.

“And actually, that youth and juvenile offenders are forming into their own gangs themselves," he said.

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"You can't fix a problem until you actually acknowledge that you've got one,” he said.

But, Police Minister Chris Hipkins begs to differ.

“There’s no evidence gangs are recruiting these young people, but the Police report shows they’re linking up in custody, which is what Mark Mitchell wants more of,” he said.

“We know there’s a hard core of several dozen young people involved in the vast bulk of these robberies. As reports out this week have confirmed, the common theme is a broken home life.”

“They are susceptible to being influenced by gangs and the challenge we face is to show them another way. We’re ramping up the support and supervision they get.”

Youth advocate and social worker Eugene Ryder says kids are simply growing up in environments that contribute to what they end up doing.

He asks, what is there for our young people and where can they go?

“It seems for a lot of our rangatahi – only the gangs have their arms open” he said.

“Not many of them, for example in south or west Auckland, are interested in boy scouts or girl guides, and if they were their doors would be closed before they got to them.”

“I'm a firm believer in ‘idle hands are the devil's playground’. A lot of these kids have nothing to do. Noone's welcoming them into their sports clubs or anything.”

Ryder says gang members are also parents -- so if someone wants to be like Dad, that's not such a bad thing, unless Dad's a criminal.

“If you’re brought up in a family where everyone’s a doctor, chances are you’re gonna become a doctor. If you’re brought up in a family where everyone’s struggling to get food, and they’re stealing and doing crime together, chances are – that’s what you’re gonna be doing as well.”