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Police Minister Chris Hipkins has faced the heat from beleaguered business owners in Auckland today as they demanded "less talk, more action" on retail crime.
Shopkeepers say relentless ram raids and burglaries are costing them stock, staff, and sleep - and new data suggests the problem is continuing to increase.
Justice Minister Kiritapu Allan said there had been 391 ram raids in just over nine months, averaging 10 per week, in reply to a written question from National's Paul Goldsmith.
That's trending above the last figures the police supplied to RNZ, which showed about eight ram raids a week in the 12 months until July.
Smash and grab style robberies have also become an increasing worry for shopkeepers - like the one carried out on Quick Picks convenience store in Mission Bay early on Tuesday morning.
Its manager Zaid Ayyub said it only took seconds for thieves to smash down the doors and turn the store into a "disaster zone".
"Three people came in. They broke the glass and jumped over the counter and tried to steal cigarettes. We had a fog machine, so that turned on. All the smoke filled the whole shop and they fell down, grabbed some ice creams and ran away," he said.
The store was sporting the temporary wooden plywood doors that have become symbolic of the country's retail crime wave - and not for the first time, Ayyub said.
"In terms of burglaries it's been, I think, six times throughout two years."
Chair of the Dairy and Business Owners Group Sunny Kaushal said the chance to sit down with Hipkins in Auckland today was "long awaited".
"We need to agree that there is a retail crime emergency in New Zealand, which we have put very clearly to the minister," he said.
Sunny Kaushal has made his concerns clear to the minister. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Asked if he agreed with that assessment, Hipkins gave his own description of the situation as "an escalating pattern of youth offending."
"You can put whatever label on it you like. If you're a business that's a victim of that then clearly that's an emergency for your business," he said.
"That is absolutely a genuine concern and one we absolutely acknowledge for those businesses. We respect the level of concern that they have and we are committed to working with the small business community to make sure they can feel safe in their businesses."
The Dairy and Business Owners Group told Hipkins they wanted "just a small fraction" of the taxes they contribute to go towards just that.
Ideally, the government should work with councils to set up more streetlights and security cameras, they said.
Frustration over fund
The group said the $6 million Small Retailer Crime Prevention Fund set up in May, to help stores beef up their own security, was simply too small and too slow.
So far the police have assessed 80 stores to see if they qualify for help, and "committed" some $260,500 from the fund - four percent of it.
Fifty-nine of those stores have been linked up to a supplier of protective equipment.
In five months, just seven retailers have successfully had new bollards, cameras, screens and security equipment installed through the fund, but five of those were part of the pilot programme.
The Dairy and Business Owners Group has asked Hipkins to consider raising the fund to $30m.
"I'm focused on getting the $6 million that we've currently got spent, because I think we really want to see faster progress there," Hipkins said.
"We're starting to see that progress accelerate. It has been too slow to get up and running and I absolutely acknowledge that."
Chris Hipkins agrees the fund to help small business owners has been too slow to get up to speed. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Another talking point for the meeting was the consequences for repeat offenders.
Between January and September there had been 251 prosecutions and 104 youth referrals for ram raids, the written response from Minister Allan said.
Business owners said that clearly hadn't been enough to break the cycle of crime and get repeat offenders off the street.
The owner of Supervalue Parkwood in Hamilton, Manish Thakkar, said he'd felt "powerless" while being targeted.
"We are helpless. Last week one lady came and took a whole trolley-load of stuff. We were just yelling 'you can't do that. you can't do that.'"
Hipkins today promised a "real focus" from the government on interventions for young repeat offenders.
It was time to try new things, he said, to get young people out of crime and back on the straight and narrow.
Thakkar hoped that would translate into action, not just words.