Police are standing by their approach to retail crime in the wake of surging incident reports.

They received a record 10,000 reports of retail crime in the month of October last year, and the average in the year to November has almost doubled compared to 2018.

But Police say numbers are probably up because they've made it easier for businesses to report incidents.

Police Assistant Commissioner Jevon McSkimming told Mike Hosking they're tackling serious incidents well, like ram raids.

He says there were more than 900 reported offences last year, and they resolved and prosecuted more than 540 of them.

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