Fears for dairy staff raised as robbery rate surges

A man has raised fears for his wife’s safety as thieves continue to invade dairies in Manawatu for cash and cigarettes.

Bus driver Marty Rowe spoke about his concerns for his wife, who works at a Manawatu dairy, during a Labour Party-led meeting at Palmerston North’s All Saints Church on Monday night.

The meeting was organised to allow people to share their concerns over the surge in robberies in recent months, with Labour MPS, Iain Lees-galloway and Stuart Nash, there to discuss ways to minimise such crimes.

Rowe said he feared for his wife’s safety every time she stepped foot behind the counter.

‘‘When is my wife going to be the next victim?

‘‘I’m actually really starting to worry about her safety.’’

Rowe said making cigarettes unaffordable was not helping the problem.

There needed to be another solution so his wife could feel safer at work, he said.

Rangitikei Convenience Store owner Sam Shaker, who has a wife and a 1-year-old child, said he could defend himself but his family and employees could not.

Shaker said he got worried when his staff, who were half his size, were working alone.

‘‘We get lot of youth doing damage. In the past week or two we’ve had people trying to steal things.’’

Shaker commended police for doing their best to try to minimise the thefts but he said there needed to be heavier charges for aggravated robberies.

Central Districts Indian Association vice-president Paul Patel said part of the problem stemmed from unemployment.

Thieves were not ‘‘dying for a quick fag’’, they were stealing cigarettes to sell them off to finance drug addictions or even to buy food for their families, Patel said.

Nash, Labour’s police spokesman, said the Government needed to do things differently if it wanted Kiwis to reach their potential. ‘‘Everyone has to have a chance to be the best they possibly can be.’’

More police in communities, such as Palmerston North, would allow people to communicate more closely with specific officers, Nash said.

It would also give officers more of a grasp on what was going on in their community, he said.

Instead of spending more money on prisons, finances needed to be redistributed into the police force, he said.