Tough on crime? We’ve yet to see it, victims of brazen thefts say
Lawmakers who vowed to crack down on crime before the election have done little in the eyes of business owners targeted in a series of brazen youth raids this week.
One is vowing to sell up after 21 years of dairy trade while the other has lost faith in the system, saying the thieves didn’t bother covering their faces because “they know nobody’s going to touch them because they're all under age”.
But Police Minister Mark Mitchell, who campaigned on a tough-on-crime platform at the 2023 election, said the crime situation was allowed to “fester” for six years under Labour and the government is in the process of implementing stronger measures.
It’s cold comfort to Amit Khanna, whose Caltex Dinsdale was hit twice in the early hours of Monday morning.
“We got broken into around 1am and police left so we put a security guard in place at 3am as we were going to open back at 6am,” he told the Waikato Times.
“We had the security guard parked right by the entrance and 20 minutes after the police had gone the offenders came back in three different cars, there was nine of them.”
The guard was powerless to stop them. They barged into the already damaged premises with “complete disregard” that someone was there.
Khanna is unsure at this stage what the cost of Monday’s burglary is but three breakins last October cost him around $40,000.
The service station has fog cannons, bollards, 24/7 security monitoring and 16 cameras inside the 100sqm building.
On Thursday, police released a statement saying two 13-year-olds and a 19-year-old has been arrested in relation to the burglary and the robbery of a dairy in Te Awamutu. All three were due to appear in the Youth Court.
Khanna is disappointed the Government hasn’t followed through on its election promise of “cracking down on crime”.
“I would like to see the government clamp down on crime, I would like harsher penalties.
“The guys who came into my shop on
Monday morning were not even wearing masks. They were ready to expose their faces ... because they know nobody's going to touch them because they're all under age.
“We are all at our wits’ end in the community - something needs to be done on a very urgent basis.”
Khanna said things are moving at a snail’s pace and doesn’t think a rehabilitative approach is working.
“You have a drive around Hamilton or you have a drive around South Auckland and you’ll see dairies are looking like jails. They have caged themselves up and the poor guy, he’s selling his stuff, he’s running his shop, but he’s standing behind metal cages because criminals are being left out.”
Mitchell, however, said the government has started to make changes, particularly around young offender military academies and “a suite of new tools for police like banning gang patches and insignia in public spaces”.
It wants to see real consequences for offenders, he said, and will amend the Sentencing Act and associated legislation to ensure the seriousness of an offence is reflected in sentencing.
“These changes will give priority to the needs of victims over offenders, provide stronger penalties for lower-level crimes such as shoplifting, and make gang membership an aggravating factor during sentencing.”
Meanwhile, Te Awamutu dairy owner John Bulsara is vowing to sell up. It’s not worth the risk of his family getting hurt, he said.
A family member was at the West End Superette counter on Monday when a group of youths pulled up in a black station wagon around 7.45am.
They ran in and started yelling. Targeting the cigarette cabinet, they jumped on and over the counter and ran trays of cigarettes to the boot of a car.
Members of the public tried in vain to stop the offenders.
One tried to disable the car.
“I ripped off the blinkers and lights,” he told the Waikato Times. “It didn’t have any keys, I was going to throw the keys away but they weren’t there.”
Others tried to sweep as many cigarettes out of the boot as possible.
Footage of the robbery shows an approaching truck also tried to stop the car by swerving in front of the getaway vehicle.
Bulsara is frustrated the government isn’t coming down harder on youth offenders.
“We have never asked for money from the government, the hours that you put in are ridiculous, we do 80 to 90 hours a week including Saturday and Sunday.”
Bulsara never never thought he’d give the shop up.
“But this Monday's incident just spun me around so much that I say I'm just out now. I am just so glad no-one was injured.”