PM offers fog cannon funding
The Government will pay $4000 to every small shop and dairy wanting to install fog cannons, following the death of worker Janak Patel.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a series of new funding options for retail shops during a post-Cabinet media conference in Auckland yesterday.
A new $4 million Government fund will help Bay of Plenty, Auckland and Hamilton councils to prevent local crime. The existing crime prevention fund, started as a response to ramraiding, would also be expanded for dairies that had been the victim of an aggravated robbery.
Ardern had promised Government action following the killing of Patel, who was stabbed to death in Auckland while working at a dairy in Sandringham.
She attended his funeral on Sunday night, and stayed in Auckland as protesters gathered outside Labour offices across the country, calling for a crackdown on shoplifting and ramraids as well as better protections for retail staff.
Fog cannon scheme
Small shops and dairies will get $4000 each to go towards installing a fog cannon.
The Government was putting aside $10 million initially for the scheme, but Ardern said more money was available.
‘‘If you feel vulnerable, we want you to be able to access support,’’ she said.
However, she warned that a global shortage of fog cannons which could mean many stores wanting cannons would have to wait until next year. She said police expected 455 fog cannons to arrive before Christmas.
Between 2018 and 2021, 1000 businesses that had been the victims of aggravated robberies had already installed fog cannons as part of a police programme, Ardern said.
National Party police spokesperson Mark Mitchell said this response would not fix the issues fuelling crime.
‘‘Labour’s plan is simply to barricade businesses further rather than enforce proper consequences,’’ he said.
Police Minister Chris Hipkins said he expected it to take about six months for the hundreds of fog cannons to be installed.
‘‘The 1000 fog cannons that are already installed took four years, and despite police doubling the number of local contractors that will do the work to six, it’s expected it will take till the second quarter of next year for the number of installations to start to ramp up,’’ he said.
In the meantime, he pushed back a suggestion that shopkeepers should be able to use pepper spray, which is a restricted weapon in New Zealand, to defend themselves.
There was clear evidence that shop owners who defended themselves more against offenders were putting themselves and potentially other customers at greater risk, he said.
With fog cannons, he said they had proven to de-escalate robberies ‘‘almost immediately’’ and could deter would-be thieves. ‘‘So they work.’’
Local crime fund
The Government will match on a dollar-for-dollar basis what councils pay for local crime prevention measures. Ardern said this $4 million fund could pay for more security cameras and better lighting to deter crime.
‘Enough is enough’
As dairy workers closed their stores in protest yesterday, many spoke about fears for themselves, their staff and families. While a number of issues were raised, from the price of tobacco to issues accessing the Government’s crime prevention fund, the protesters united in the call, ‘‘Enough is enough’’.
Ardern said she heard their call, although she did not know if any Labour MP had met with the protesters in their regions.
‘‘Ultimately, our goal is to make sure people feel safe at work. No-one should go to their place of work feeling that they are vulnerable to senseless violence and crime,’’ she said.
In Wellington, Indian Association president Dipak Bhana said crime had become more brazen and dangerous after police had failed to investigate more minor incidents such as shoplifting. Bhana said reports to the non-urgent police line, 105, often led to nothing more than documentation of the crime, rather than consequences for the offenders.
But Hipkins said the introduction of the 105 line was a positive step, that had led to more crime being reported – and police identifying patterns of petty crime, so they could predict and stop further offending. He said the relatively new National Retail Crime Unit showed police were paying attention to minor crime before it escalated.
Speaking at a vigil for Patel, held outside Grant Robertson’s Wellington office, Bhana urged the Government to ensure police investigated petty crimes ‘‘before they eventuate into larger ones’’.
The Government has faced pressure over shoplifting and ram raids, with the Opposition levelling a ‘‘soft on crime’’ charge against it.
Ardern has repeatedly defended the Government position on crime, pointing to increased funding for police and the newly formed gun register.
‘‘I will not stand by and have anyone call this government soft on crime. We have been the opposite,’’ she said yesterday.
While Ardern and Hipkins have acknowledged a spike in youth crime and ‘‘ramraiding’’, they have insisted that the issue is waning. The ministers have provided police data showing ramraiding decreased from a high of 75 in August to 13 so far this month. This year there have been 517 reported ramraids.