Official Police data confirms the concerns of dairy owners over an explosion in crime hitting dairies, bottle shops, supermarkets and retailers in general. In the first eleven months of 2021, ten of the nation’s 12 police districts reported increased retail crime but with far fewer arrests than in all of 2020.
“Despite Auckland being in lockdown for 107-days, reported retail thefts there, in the first 11 months of 2021, surged by some 33% over 2020 with reported burglaries going up almost 19%,” says Sunny Kaushal, Chair of the Dairy and Business Owners Group.
“We’re talking 1,402 extra reported thefts over 2020 that means Auckland City retailers are now reporting almost 16 thefts a day to Police let alone burglary and assault.
“There’s a sense of lawlessness gripping not just Auckland but much of New Zealand. Justice is not being seen to be done.
“For an incomplete 2021, ‘recorded occurrences’ affecting kiwi retailers were up by around 9% to over 55,000 but arrests were way down in every Police district. We’re talking on average 23% fewer arrests for 2021 compared to 2020. That’s just 1,947 arrests in 2021 compared to 2,509 in 2020.
“We must ask if some kind of catch and release policy is operating? Dairy owners are seeing the same people back on the streets and it undermines our faith in the system.
“Comparing 2017 to 2021 tells us how bad it has gotten. Reported retail burglary was up 7.7% (350 more in 2021 than 2017 at 4,876) with thefts up 33.7% (9,210 more than in 2017 at 36,595).
“While reported robberies may officially be down many dairies no longer report that out of fear of retribution and a lack of faith in the justice system.
“That can be read in a 4.9% increase in assaults (55 more than in 2017 to 1,164) and an unacceptable 14.9% increase in sexual assault (22 more than in 2017 to 170). On average three owners and workers are reporting assaults each day. This is not the New Zealand we know or want.
“In Auckland, in 2021, recorded retail offences soared by 25.8% but arrests were less than in 2020. In Waikato, recorded retail offences were up 19.7% but arrests dropped by a quarter while in Canterbury, recorded retail offences went up 14.2% but arrests were down 18.4%.
“This pattern for an incomplete 2021 was repeated in Northland, Counties-Manukau, Bay of Plenty, Central, Eastern Wellington and Tasman.
“We have a dairy and retail crime emergency and the proposed repeal of the three-strikes legislation will not help this one bit. This is why we have these suggestions:
- A $13.5 million Dairy and Service Station Security Fund to boost active security in up to two-thirds of such businesses (based on a $1.8 million government initiative from 2017);
- Delivery of the extra 1,800 police promised in 2017 with Police freed from MIQ duties to chase down criminals; and
- Re-task all parking wardens into Police Community Support Officers tasked with anti-social crime rather than ticketing the shoppers, delivery drivers and contractors we need. In Auckland alone, that would provide an extra resource of around 160 people,” Mr Kaushal said.
