Mayor worried by rise in retail thefts, intimidation
A spike in shoplifting and intimidation of Nelson retail staff is worrying shop owners and Nelson’s mayor.
Mayor Nick Smith met Nelson Bays police acting area commander Mark Clayton on Tuesday about concerns over theft and other criminal activity in the Nelson central business district.
Smith has organised a meeting between police and Nelson city businesses next Wednesday to discuss the problem.
He said at least a dozen retailers had approached him over concerns about quite a ‘‘sharp increase’’ in the amount of shoplifting, but their biggest concern was the more ‘‘brazen and threatening’’ sort of criminal activity.
Smith mentioned incidents that had involved an arson attack on a building in the central city area by youth, and gang members ‘‘openly threatening retail staff’’.
‘‘One of the concerns that businesses have had is that we used to have a community constable in the central city area, who did a very good job of proactively keeping the central city area safe,’’ Smith said.
‘‘That position was not replaced a couple of years ago. Many retailers feel that that has not helped.’’
Smith said the concern was that in other centres, there had been a sharp increase in incidents like ram raids and other violence. While Nelson had historically been a very safe city, the worry was that the national trend
would come here.
The meeting next week would allow ‘‘free and frank discussion’’ between retailers and police, ‘‘for both council and police to get ahead of the curve and to ensure that the city area remains an attractive and safe place for people to shop and do business’’.
Smith said there was a high level of frustration from retailers that when young people offended and were caught, there was ‘‘very little consequence’’, and the offenders were back on the street within a few weeks.
‘‘The concern is not just with
police, but the way in which the overall youth justice system is working.
‘‘I think the group [of youth offenders] is small, but repeated. My view is there needs to be both a firmer approach to the policing, but also a smart preventative approach for some of our youth that have gone off the rails.’’
Nelson Bays acting area commander Mark Clayton said that in line with an announcement by the commissioner of police this week, ‘‘police will have an increased presence in, and focus on, areas where there is serious harm being done, particularly in the retail space’’.
‘‘We recognise the distress this causes hard-working members of our Nelson community, and are working as hard as we can to help people be safe and feel safe, and hold offenders to account.’’
Clayton said penalties were a matter for the Government. The police’s role was to put offenders before the courts.
Nelson MP Rachel Boyack said the fatal stabbing of a dairy worker in the Auckland suburb of Sandringham last month was unacceptable, and she was grieving with the community there and across New Zealand.
Boyack said she would be supporting local dairy owners who have organised a candlelight vigil at the Church Steps at 8pm tomorrow.
‘‘The Government stands alongside workers and businesses who are the victims of crime. We know more support is needed, and we are committed to making sure they get it.’’
Nationally, Boyack said, the Government had made a number of changes to support small businesses, including introducing the National Retail Investigation Support Unit, adding 1600 extra police, and increasing police funding by ‘‘over half a billion dollars in the last Budget alone’’.
‘‘In the Tasman (police) district, which includes Nelson, we have increased police numbers by nearly 10%, putting an extra 33 police on the beat.’’
This week the Government announced a new fog cannon subsidy scheme open to small shops and dairies, with funding of $4000 available for each shop.
Boyack said she was working with retailers in Nelson to support them with their applications for fog cannons, which allow store workers to deploy a thick, fog-like mist when they are threatened or being robbed.
Local dairy owners will be holding a candlelight vigil at the Church Steps at 8pm on Saturday. Those attending are asked to bring a candle.