Police respond to a robbery at Stewart Dawsons in Westfield St Lukes on 20 September 2022. Photo: RNZ / Felix Walton
Volunteers in the Mount Albert Community Patrol are on high alert after a brazen smash and grab in the Auckland suburb this week.
Stewart Dawsons in Westfield St Lukes was targeted on Tuesday, in what many fear is an escalating crime wave in the city.
The attack has reignited debate over Auckland's criminal activity and whether police are doing enough to stop it.
"It's just become so slack," said one shopper, "you hardly ever see them around anymore."
Another said: "Police are doing what they can, but it's the justice system itself that's holding them back. If you do something and you get away with it, sweet as, why wouldn't you do it again?"
"Post-Covid, things are getting worse" - Mt Albert Community Patrol co-ordinator Nyuk Loong Kiw
Mt Albert Community Patrol is one of more than 150 similar groups across the country.
Co-ordinator Nyuk Loong Kiw said the group acted both as a way to assist police and to deter criminals. "We usually go out and do a four-hour patrol," he said. "Sometimes we do day patrols, sometimes we do night patrols - we try to randomise it so people can't work out a pattern.
"We're basically acting as the police's eyes and ears."
But the group, which is run by volunteers, stops short of confronting wrongdoers.
"We have specifically been told that our number one priority is our own safety," Kiw said.
"When we notice something, we do exactly what any other individual would do, we either call 111 or we also have access to police comms."
Kiw has been a volunteer for two years. He said crime has become increasingly common in his neighbourhood.
"It feels like, especially post-Covid, things are getting worse," he said.
"I closely monitor the Mt Albert Community Facebook group, and it used to be a monthly occurrence, but now it almost feels like a daily occurrence."
Stewart Dawsons in Westfield St Lukes was targeted by robbers on 20 September 2022. Photo: RNZ / Lucy Xia
Police said they would perform regular foot patrols inside St Lukes shopping centre until further notice. They have yet to catch any of the offenders.
Yesterday, former National Party leader and now Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Simon Bridges said businesses were being forced to defend themselves.
"Businesses can't rely on police to keep themselves [safe]," he said. "They have to do their own work, whether it's bollards, hiring security, setting up cameras - which obviously add significant cost to the business."
Mt Albert Business Association former president Catherine Goodwin earlier said police and courts were failing her community.
"I feel that this is a sign that the justice system has lost control," she said.
"Youth crime is escalating.
"Let's remember that Mt Albert was only in June the victim of a ram raid that cost a local family-owned business more than $40,000 worth of damage," she added.
Goodwin said community patrols could be the answer.