A fog cannon is activated in a dairy. Photo: RNZ
Small retailers in Auckland say the rollout of the fog cannon subsidy to protect their shops from robbery needs to be faster, and some want the eligibility criteria expanded.
A $4000 subsidy was set up last year after the death of Auckland dairy worker Janak Patel. The government on Monday announced an extra $11 million for the scheme.
Some retailers are fed-up with delays in getting the devices installed.
Since February, of the 1664 approved applications 584 had been installed, and the government said a further 3350 would be subsidised by the end of this year.
But some who applied earlier are still waiting. Sandringham dairy owner Dayana paid an application fee more than three months ago.
"I paid $250, still work is going on, they said June they're going to do, still waiting."
Dayana's shop suffered three aggravated robberies last year, her husband once held at knife-point. She said every day at work was frightening.
"Actually it's scary, because day by day it's everywhere, there's robbery going on, it's not easy to stand here."
"It's everywhere, there's robbery going on, it's not easy to stand here" - Sandringham dairy owner Dayana
Dayana said following the killing of nearby dairy worker Janak Patel, she had briefly considered closing her store. A fog cannon would help a bit, but she did not believe the overall security situation would change.
Meanwhile, around 1000 approved applicants are still waiting for their fog canons to be installed. Dairy and Business Association chairperson Sunny Kaushal said the implementation of the scheme had been inefficient.
"That tells you how slow this programme is progressing, whereas our small businesses, they have been facing the bashing, the ram raids, the burglaries, the robberies, almost every day."
Kaushal said the extended funding did not change the fact that there were significant delays, or that about 100 applicants have been declined.
He said he knew shop owners who had been declined help on the basis that they had not been robbed yet.
"You know it should not be the case - one should not be ram raided first, or robbed first to get the subsidy," he said.
However, the government's criteria for the subsidy said there was no requirement for applicants to have been a victim of a ram raid or burglary.
In a statement, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment business specialist Glen McCloy said MBIE had never declined a retailer for the Fog Canon Subsidy Scheme based on the fact they had not been robbed or ram-raided.
"Retailers are only declined if they do not meet the eligibility criteria, as stated on the website.
"The Police's Retail Crime Prevention Programme (RCPP) also provides retailers with fog cannons, but is different from the Subsidy Scheme. Retailers may be declined for a fog cannon if they had applied under the RCPP and weren't the victims of a ram raid or aggravated robbery."
A fog cannon in use. Photo: RNZ
More demand
Meanwhile, others are calling for eligibility to be expanded to include chain stores.
Naresh, who co-owns seven vape stores, says they had had about 15 robberies over the past six months.
He said they had been declined assistance because currently the scheme only helped businesses with fewer than two shops, which he said did not make sense.
"I don't see the number of stores being a criteria, being helpful, for retailers like us. So we're not too big… we're not too small, we're sort of caught up in the middle, where we feel helpless."
Naresh said they had spent about $140,000 to install bollards and security doors across their seven shops, but did not have any money left for fog cannons.
He and his business partners have had to make sacrifices to pay for the security upgrades so far, he said.
"Stretching ourselves on our cashflow, or pretty much have gone incomeless at times, to be able to cover this."
Naresh hoped the government would consider some support for businesses like his.