A police tent outside a dairy in New Windsor in Auckland where two people were assaulted last October. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
The Dairy and Business Owners Group is calling last year a law and order disaster, after data from police revealed nearly 150,000 crimes reported at retailers across the country in 2023.
Police have released crime figures to the group under the Official Information Act.
Six retailers a day were assaulted at work.
"It's very shocking, the official police data" - Sunny Kaushal
Dairy and Business Owners Group chairperson Sunny Kaushal said in the last decade, law and order had gone to hell in a hand basket.
"Only 8352 criminals saw the inside of a court room," he said.
"Meaning that 94 percent who bashed workers or stole from retailers did not."
Speaking to Midday Report, he said the data was a wake-up call for the government.
"We have been living in fear everyday," he said.
The figures show there were over 12,000 instances of retail crime reported a month. That is more than 400 a day or one every 3-1/2 minutes.
There were also a record number of reported sexual assaults on retailers in 2023.
Kaushal said that was 26 percent more than the previous year.
The previous government did not take the groups' worries seriously, he said.
"We have been living in fear everyday and we knew this kind of crime was happening. I have been talking a lot over the years taking up to the government of the day, talking to the concerned ministries, but we've never been given seriously attention. We were just given lip service," Kaushal said.
The real numbers would be much higher because most of the crime went unreported, he said.
Kaushal said there was an increase in court action last year but feared the number was still too low.
"Only 8352 criminals saw the inside of courtroom, meaning that 94 percent who bashed workers or stall from retailers did not," Kaushal said.
Since the roll-out of the Retail Crime Prevention Programme in 2022, over 3000 protective measures have been installed in retail stores, ranging from CCTV to fog cannons, bollards to roller doors.
Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young said the data was just the tip of the iceberg.
"That's only a portion of what's actually happening out there," she said.
"There's a significant portion of retail crime that's happening across the broader retail sector, and it is an enormous issue that the government has got a challenge in front of them to solve."
She said they had seen a rise in aggressive and violent behaviour toward retail staff.
"It's really about thinking about our wider community and making sure that, when you're going into a store, that you're treating people as you would expect to be treated, and not thinking that being abusive and aggressive towards a staff member in a store is appropriate behaviour."
The police have been approached for comment.
Youth and sexual offending on the rise
Meanwhile, new Ministry of Justice figures show youth offending and sexual offending are also on the rise.
The government has released 2023 justice data for finalised charges, which are only those that have reached a conclusion in court - not including those still before the court.
The number of charges has crept up for a second year in a row, reaching 207,943 - but the overall trend has been declining since 2009.
And the number of people charged with serious offences - including murder, sexual violation and burglary - has increased at a faster rate than for overall offences (9 percent versus 5 percent).
A deeper dive revealed a significant increase in sexual offending. While the number of charges increased more than 9 percent compared to the year prior, it jumped almost 30 percent since 2018.
About half resulted in a conviction, which is consistent with previous years.
Youth offending also continued to surge, with 1671 people aged between 10 and 17 charged last year - 18 percent more than in 2022.
Even more startling was the hike in the total number of charges faced by youth, which was up 35 percent year-on-year.
About 40 percent were for theft, and 13 percent for burglary or breaking and entering - continuing a rising trend of that kind of offending.
More than half of the youth offenders received an absolute discharge, which can be ordered when the person admits the crime and completes the plan agreed in their family group conference - so the crime is wiped from their record.