Hamilton stumps up cash for dairy defence
The Hamilton City Council is looking to match new government funding to beef up defences at dairies and convenience stores.
Monday’s announcement means the city will receive an extra $1 million to install preventive measures.
Waikato has recorded the most ramraids of any police region in the country this year to date.
Figures as of November 21 show that Waikato has had 101 ramraids this year, with an unidentified district sitting on 95 and Auckland on 93.
Police said that as of November 24, 28 Waikato shops have had assessments completed and have been allocated to a contractor for installation.
No Waikato stores have yet had bollards or other protective structures completed.
Rifle Range Road dairy had a fog cannon installed when Jinal Mistry and her husband took over in September last year. In that time they’ve had two serious robbery attempts that led them to use the fog cannon.
One was while their staff were on duty and a group of five or so teenage boys entered the store on a Saturday evening about 7pm armed with weapons. The fog cannon was set off and the boys ran out.
‘‘When the fog cannon is released, a thick wave of fog comes down, and you can’t see anything.’’
During her shift behind the counter, Mistry wears a fog button on a lanyard around her neck and can press it if required. There are a couple of buttons placed around the shop in case of emergency.
The second time they’ve proactively used the fog cannon was when Mistry’s husband was working one morning and a person came in with a knife. The fog cannon was released, and the man ran out. ‘‘The fog doesn’t hurt as it has no chemicals and doesn’t damage any products.’’
Mistry said they can get three or four uses out of it before they need to refill it, which costs about $300.
She’s not convinced the fog cannons are the answer but would rather see stronger punishment for offenders as more of a deterrent.
Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate has been pressing the Government for additional funding for some time, having met with Police Minister Chris Hipkins and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as recently as last week.
‘‘This is a really good step – we are really pleased as of course we are going to match it,’’ Southgate said.
‘‘So it will bring about some good pace to some changes for the city, but it won’t stop crime overnight because we’ve still got the whole complexity that we face.’’
Southgate said the money was likely to go towards physical protection work such as cameras, number plate recognition and bollards.
‘‘It will also enable us to do some of the work in the youth space which we are talking with the Government about. Especially how we get these worse criminals out of circulation and allow the shops to feel safe again but in a way to wrap support and care around them.
‘‘The custodial issue around youth crime is still one we all have to sit down and work out together.
‘‘We have already committed about $550,000 towards crime prevention, and we are looking at what else we can bring forward. But there will be some other partners that we can partner up with, like some of the social services.’’