Small business owners are asking the government “to put the rights of law-abiding citizens before the rights of criminals”.
Members of Dairy And Business Owners Group met Ginny Andersen on July 11, 2023, days after two assailants battered a Kiwi-Indian store owner in Auckland with a hammer in a daylight robbery.
The representatives told the police minister the government should not show any tolerance towards such crimes, Chairperson Sunny Kaushal said after the meeting on Tuesday morning.
“You know, what is happening to good people, and hardworking people like Mrs Patel, as it happened last week, is not tolerable.”
The group is calling for the government to deal with crimes against retail businesses as strictly as it tackles workplace deaths.
“All dairy workers and customers deserve to go home at night to their family. Those committing retail crime need to be treated like a bad boss who injures or does worse than that,” the group said in a written petition to the police minister.
Last week, two men walked into Jyotis Dairy at Mount Roskill late afternoon, and one of them swung a hammer at Bhavna Patel, who was at the cash counter.
She triggered the fog cannon, after which the second assailant kept hitting her with a hammer. Doctors administered seven stitches on her head.
A fog cannon is a machine that releases smoke when triggered in case of a robbery. The Labour government subsidises the device for small businesses, and projects it as frontline defence, but many store owners have raised concerns over its efficacy.
During their meeting with Andersen, Dairy And Business Owners Group members pointed out red tape often makes procuring the device not just slow but also tiresome.
“So, to deal with that one, as we have suggested to the minister, the retail crime fund needs to be run under a high trust model,” Kaushal said, adding the procurement process should be democratised to make it hassle-free.
The group also suggested expanding the scope of citizen’s arrest and using better street surveillance to act as a deterrent.
“So, artificial intelligence, CCTV are very much there. In other countries, they are being extensively used. We have suggested and recommended that we need to use CCTV, live feedback, you know, that would help the police force, and help to stop the crime,” Kaushal said.
It is not the first time the group has met lawmakers with such demands. Kaushal was cautious when asked if he would describe the latest meeting with the police minister as a success.
“Look, I mean, the success of the minister, and the meeting would be depending upon the results. And the results, we have clarified very clearly, that the result would mean zero ram raids, zero crime on small businesses.”
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