200 arrests in city’s CBD in 6 months
Retailers praise efforts to tackle crime, anti-social behaviour
Mere months ago, shoplifting was costing Tauranga CBD pharmacy owners Garth and Kelly Mitchinson up to $10,000 a year – and it felt like “no one even cared”.
One street over, jewellery store Julie Hammon was often feeling “vulnerable” and worried about losing customers who saw the downtown area as unsafe.
Now they are among retailers heaping praise on a small band of crime-fighters credited for an “immediate positive impact” in the CBD after 200+ arrests in less than six months.
The sole focus of the Western Bay of Plenty police Retail Crime Unit, comprising a sergeant and five constables, is to identify and target repeat offenders causing the most harm to retail businesses.
The first-of-its-kind squad works alongside city safety and engagement adviser Paul Mason, a frequent presence on CBD streets tasked by Tauranga City Council with finding ways to help people feel safer.
Life Pharmacy’s Kelly Mitchinson said their work had been “exceptional” in reducing shoplifting and anti-social behaviour.
“Now if people are walking around causing problems we have a point of contact to call on and feel our concerns are listened to.
“We feel well supported. In the past, we felt that no one even cared.”
Garth Mitchinson agreed, estimating the business’ estimated $5000-$10,000 annual shoplifting losses were down 70 to 80 per cent.
He said the specialised roles had an “immediate positive impact”.
“The whole vibe in downtown Tauranga has markedly improved.”
The police unit is the brainchild of Senior Sergeant Scott Merritt.
He said since it launched on August 2, 1259 charges had been laid against about 214 individuals, including an alleged “prolific offender” charged with 49 theft offences.
The woman’s case was before the Tauranga District Court.
Merritt said the large majority of those arrested were locals aged over 18. The youngest was aged 14.
Some went through alternative resolution programmes or received formal warnings, others were prosecuted and some were given custodial sentences due to their criminal history.
Merritt said, generally speaking, many stolen items were expensive, such as perfumes.
Even if every offender stole $100 worth of items, that amounted to tens of thousands of dollars of losses for retailers.
“Some of the offending where food and clothing were targeted, in particular, supports our belief some offenders are stealing to survive, some
The brother of a man killed in the Whakaari/white Island eruption says news his family will receive about $250,000 in reparations is “bittersweet”.
Twenty-two people were killed and 25 injured when the island – a popular tourist destination – erupted in December 2019.
In the Auckland District Court on Friday, Judge Evangelos Thomas sentenced five companies and one Crown-owned entity for health and safety failings in the lead-up to the disaster.
Collectively, they were ordered to pay $10.21 million in reparations and about $2m in fines.
Judge Thomas said the people injured, and the families of those killed, would each receive $250,000 but that figure would be adjusted, for example, in cases where children were left without parents or where families lost more than one loved one.
Mark Inman’s brother Hayden Marshall-inman was a Whakaari/ White Island guide and the first person confirmed dead in the eruption.
Inman was in court on Friday for the sentencing and said it was “bittersweet”.
“No matter what way you look at it, it doesn’t bring anybody home.
“To try and point blame doesn’t [make it] better or any easier, to be honest.”
It had been an “emotionally draining” week in court, he said, with the ripple effect from the eruption plain to see. The victims and their families were not the only ones hurting, the lawyers and even the judge were clearly emotionally affected, he said.
No matter what way you look at it, it doesn’t bring anybody home.
Mark Inman
Inman told Checkpoint he kept in touch with many of the survivors and families from the eruption, many of whom live overseas.
“I guess you become sort of an exclusive club, in some ways, that you don’t really want to be a part of, but you are.
“After this week, the club’s become tighter and closer and you do share stories and talk and communicate and you check in with each other.
“I guess the important lesson learned out of this whole week is you’re not alone in your troubles and the way you deal with grief. There’s other people out there in a similar situation and [they] understand where you’re coming from.”
Inman said he still loved Whakaari/white Island and looked at it every day from his home.
He described it as a “natural wonder of the world” and said he would be happy to visit again in the future.
“I’m not afraid of the island. I think it’s a beautiful place, and even just the marine life around there is just amazing and incredible to go and view.”
He also said he would be happy for tourism to resume there in the future.
Tourists had visited the island for decades before the eruption, he said, which was a tradition worth keeping.
“If there’s a car accident on the Kaimais, we don’t shut the Kaimais down for the rest of the lifetime of the Kaimais, so if we did some real good homework around protective measures and what it would take to get back on the island, perhaps you could [run tours again].”