Dairy owners await turn to be robbed
Armed robberies are pushing the corner dairy to the edge.
And it’s not just the fear of the next balaclava-clad thug to come through the door demanding cigarettes - soaring insurance costs are cutting into narrow profit margins.
Waikato dairy owners were worried enough to call a meeting on Saturday with police and government representatives to address the issue.
Dairy worker Chirag Patel, whose family dairy in Hamilton was robbed for cash and cigarettes by three masked people with a crowbar this month, said the robbery was frightening but unsurprising.
‘‘To be honest, everyone is basically waiting for their turn now. It’s the sad truth,’’ he said.
His dairy in Claudelands hoped to stop selling cigarettes by 2025, in line with a government aim to make the nation smokefree.
‘‘People are scared,’’ meeting organiser Jay Randhawa said, ‘‘and people are sometimes selling their business.
‘‘It’s not our fault, we’re paying insurance,’’ he said. ‘‘[Insurance] makes excuses not to pay. Then finally if they pay, rates go up.’’
He would like to see government funding for security measures, such as panic alarms, for high-risk Waikato businesses.
Vege King owner Harjit Singh, whose staff traded blows with a would-be shoplifter on Heaphy Terrace recently, said the problem is affecting all of Hamilton.
‘‘It’s not only Indian or Asian, it’s the whole community,’’ Singh said. ‘‘We are local, we are Kiwi, we look after you, we pay the tax.’’
Hamilton East MP David Bennett said cigarettes were an obvious target for offenders after tax increases and that discussions with cigarette companies about security measures were
‘‘To be honest, everyone is basically waiting for their turn now. It's the sad truth.’’
under way.
‘‘You (dairy operators) provide a vital service in a community, so it is very distressing for us to see the way that you have been treated in many cases,’’ he told the meeting, held at Hamilton’s Phoenix Community Hall on Saturday afternoon.
‘‘Our apologies if you have felt things hadn’t reacted as quickly as [they] should have done and also if you feel that you are still in a vulnerable position.’’
Waikato Senior Constable Pere Paea told the meeting police are working closely with small businesses to develop a set of basic instructions to follow in the case of a robbery.
‘‘When we talk about an earthquake, for example, everyone knows ‘drop, cover, hold.’ During a fire, everyone knows ‘get down, get low, get out.’
‘‘We are trying to develop a similar type of, I suppose, catchphrase for small businesses.
‘‘Some of our small business owners said during an armed robbery, you just don’t know what to do because it confronts you so suddenly. So we’re working on that idea.’’
National MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi told the meeting high insurance premiums are a commercial issue, but they would take feedback on board.
‘‘I will try to talk to some of my colleagues and see if we can intervene and talk to insurance companies,’’ Bakshi said.
Minister of Corrections Louise Upston said the ministry is spending more than ever on rehabilitation and reintegration.
The Government will invest $32 million into reducing burglaries by specifically targeting people at risk of offending under 25, she said
‘‘Unfortunately, we’re not going to get successes with that overnight. But by taking a very long-term approach, we will have much better outcomes.
‘‘It’s too late when they turn up in prison ... if we can stop them going off the tracks early on and provide greater levels of support, that’s the best chance we have.’’