Booze shop boss upset at cops over break-ins

Charanjit Singh Dhillon is unhappy his shop was broken into three times in one night. Photo / George Novak

A liquor store owner is upset his shop was allegedly broken into three times in one night before the police showed up.

But Tauranga Police say they have finite resources and during busy times have to prioritise which incidents they attend.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Charanjit Singh Dhillon's Bottle-O Fraser Cove store was broken into three times at 12.10am, 2.30am and 5.26am.

Mr Dhillon said he was made aware of each break-in immediately and called 111, only to be told there were no units available.

Police eventually arrived about 10 minutes after the third break-in, he said.

Mr Dhillon said the break-ins had cost him about $3000 in damage and stolen goods.

"I need an answer from the police about this, we are paying them tax."

Tauranga Police Acting Senior Sergeant Cam Anderson said on busy nights, police had to prioritise which incidents they could attend.

"The guys were pretty busy with jobs [that night].

"Sometimes it's a case of yes, we've got an alarm system going off but you could have staff going out to an alarm activation because it's a bug going across the system.

"Unfortunately it's the case where we don't have infinite resources and, at the time, the guys were busy."

A 16-year-old and a 13-year-old have been referred to Youth Aid.