Police are calling on the community to be their "eyes and ears" after a spate of aggravated robberies, including one last week where it is believed the offender watched a dairy for some time before entering.
There have been four aggravated robberies in as many weeks around Hawke's Bay and the latest one occurred at the Onekawa shops on Maadi Road at 8pm last Thursday.
Police said a man stole cash and cigarettes from the Onekawa dairy after threatening the shop's sole woman occupant with a small knife,. He then made her lie on the ground, and tied her hands behind her back.
Senior Sergeant Mike Stevenson of the Eastern District Command Centre said he was not able to comment on the number of recent aggravated robberies, but he did urge the community to call the police if something seemed suspicious - particularly if this was around locations often targeted by robbers, such as dairies and service stations.
Police believe there is a possibility Thursday's offender may have been watching the dairy for some time before entering.
The male is described as being dark skinned and wearing dark shorts, a dark hoody with the hood up and had his face covered with light coloured material like a hanky. Police ask that anyone who was in the area at the time and who may have seen the offender to please come forward.
"The community are the eyes and ears of police," Mr Stevenson said. He added it was better for police to make inquiries into information, and dismiss it, rather than not be informed at all.
The Onekawa dairy's owners declined to comment yesterday.
Earlier in March, two aggravated robberies occurred in Dannevirke in the space of 48 hours. Thieves got away with cash and cigarettes after pointing a pistol at Dannevirke Caltex staff, and cash was stolen from the Dannevirke Four Square after staff were threatened with a crowbar.
A length of chain and a hammer were used in separate incidents at a Hastings dairy and Napier Four Square in the weeks beforehand.
Labour's police spokesman, Stuart Nash, said he had concerns the number of police in Hawke's Bay could affect the way crimes, including aggravated robberies, were handled.
"It is really concerning for the safe and wellbeing not only of our community but also the officers involved," Mr Nash said.
More police would "increase the odds of [crimes] being prevented and certainly increase the odds of them being solved".
Mr Nash's opponent for the Napier seat in the upcoming election, National's David Elliott, said the police presence in the Eastern District would be bolstered by increased numbers promised by the National Government.
"You're never going to be able to stop random crimes from happening because you can't have police on every corner, that's a police state," he said.
"[But] we know the National Government has committed to increasing police presence with over 1100 additional staff arriving in the safer communities package, and to my mind it's why Napier deserves a voice in Government, to ensure its concerns are heard."
For Napier's Green Party candidate, Damon Rusden, the answer to preventing such incidents was in focusing more on rehabilitation of criminals, rather than imprisonment.
He believed the attacks reflected a pattern emerging of an "institutional neglect and lack of opportunity for our young people".
■If you have any information about the robberies, you can share it anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.