Another day and another rushed law and order policy announcement from Labour.

Yesterday’s one was the third this week, and pretty much focused on ram raids and what to do with 12 and 13-year-old kids who get involved in them.

As the week’s gone on, I’ve thought Labour’s policy announcements have been pretty lame and yesterday’s was no exception.

Labour thinks treating 12 and 13-year-olds as criminals is going to stop them driving cars through shop windows and helping themselves to whatever they find inside. I think it's dreaming.

First of all, these kids are going to be allowed to do one ram raid before they face the type of consequences Labour is talking about. So what’s that? Two strikes and you’re out?

Secondly, it’s all very well these kids going to the Youth Court and getting bail or limping around the place with an ankle bracelet on, but how does that change the environment they’re living in? It makes no difference at all.

And as for this dream politicians seem to have, that one-size-fits-all law and order policies are a deterrent. Do you really think that’s going to be the case when it comes to 12-year-olds and 13-year-olds?

Of course it isn’t. Especially when they know they can do it once and get away with it before things get really heavy and they’re off to the Youth Court.

About a month ago, I said I didn’t support what the Dairy and Business Owners Group was calling for, when they were saying that it was hopeless targeting young offenders and that it’s their parents who should carry the can.

As we know, their members - the people who own and run dairies and other retail outlets - had a complete gutsful of ratbags getting away with ram raiding and nicking stuff from their shops.

They were focussed on kids aged around 14, and were saying that they wanted the parents of these kids made legally responsible for what their kids are getting up to.

I said at the time that I didn’t support that because I thought it would do nothing to teach these 14-year-olds about consequences for their actions. They’d just keep playing up because they’d know that it’d be Mum or Dad carrying the can.

But I reckon 12 and 13-year-olds are different. I reckon 12 and 13-year-olds are probably more likely to be saved from a life of crime than someone just that little bit older.

I am a realist and I know that some kids - tragically - are on a path that it’s very difficult to get them off.

Nevertheless, instead of treating these kids as criminals, as Labour says it wants to, I reckon they should be taking a leaf out of the dairy owners' book and, instead of sending these kids to court, they should be sending their parents to court.

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