A Tauranga shoplifter was sentenced to two years in prison for 37 charges since 2024.
An officer in the Tauranga Retail Crime Unit identified the serial offender.
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers praised the unit’s work, highlighting its impact on reducing retail crime.
A prolific Tauranga shoplifter has been jailed after being convicted of 37 shoplifting charges, police say.
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said in a statement it was the result of outstanding investigative work by an officer in the Tauranga Retail Crime Unit.
The officer began his investigationbased on a single shoplifting report that came through Auror - a retail crime intelligence and loss prevention platform - with no offender identified and no real lines of inquiry.
From that report, the officer was able to build a picture of a serial shoplifter, who was offending regularly.
He said it highlighted the importance of monitoring and following up on what might initially seem like low-level offending.
“We know how devastating this type of offending is for our retail community, and holding people to account for shoplifting and retail theft remains a priority for NZ Police.”
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers. Photo / Dean Purcell
The Tauranga-based Retail Crime Unit is a fulltime team comprising a sergeant and five constables put together in 2023 after more than 5000 offences were reported to police the previous year.
It was the brainchild of Senior Sergeant Scott Merritt, who still oversees the unit.
“The Retail Crime Unit focus is on a group of recidivist offenders committing a disproportionate amount of these reported offences and causing the most harm to Western Bay of Plenty businesses,” he told the Bay of Plenty Times in 2023.
The retail crime unit earned praise from retailers in Tauranga's CBD. Photo / NZME
In recent weeks, police faced criticism after RNZ revealed a directive sent to staff in March setting national value thresholds for investigating theft and fraud files, such as $500 for shoplifting.
After backlash, including concern it could impact the work of initiatives like Tauranga’s retail crime unit, Chambers canned the “confusing and unhelpful” directive.
He highlighted Tauranga’s unit as an example of successful approaches to retail crime.
“The convictions in this case were a result of not only outstanding investigative work, but also of the great rapport that the officer has built with local retailers,” said Chambers.
