JP Dignon (right), managing director of Northern District Security with guard Caine Cockroft. Photo / Tania Whyte
Northland retail businesses are increasingly turning to security guards for protection in the wake of recent ram raids, robberies and burglaries.
Northern Districts Security managing director JP Dignon said demand for security staff remained high, but for different reasons than at the beginning of the pandemic.
"When Covid started we had lots of requests for security to check passes and masks and to control the flow of people."
The nature of the requests has changed, he said, with retail customers now requesting security staff for safety reasons.
"Everyone is on high alert and it seems crime is more intense and there is a lot more of it.
"It's retail that there's a demand for because there's a lot of intimidation and robberies and ram raids.
"The problem we also see is that a lot of these businesses need the security but they cannot afford it."
Instead, Dignon said, they go for other security tools such as cameras, which he believes only help to catch criminals afterwards but do not prevent crime.
"The only proactive approach is to have physical security people on site and that is not a cost-effective way - it's quite expensive and businesses cannot necessarily afford it."
People have been more aggressive towards security staff recently, with four Northern Districts Security guards assaulted this year alone, a more frequent rate than in the past 20 years.
"We've had a guard assaulted at the library, we've had a guard assaulted at the council buildings at Forum North," Dignon said.
Ninety per cent of these issues were with youth, he added.
AUT Professor of Sociology Charles Crothers said he was surprised at continuing angst and aggression in the community as the pandemic and its restrictions seemed to be coming to an end.
There had been a change of mood, however, over the last two years, he said.
"I think there was a slightly more euphoric time fairly early on in the pandemic and people enjoyed some of the lockdown and felt it was a bit of a holiday.
"But then as it went on and on and on, people felt it was dragging on too long."
Crothers said anti-mandate protesters making ongoing demands for freedom from Covid restrictions could also be contributing to some aggressive behaviour.
"The cry of freedom legitimates rudeness and disobedience because people appeal to this higher value which frees them to be irritable."
He said this could lead to aggression between people who wear masks and those who do not, for instance.
Northern Districts Security, like many businesses, has also had difficulty finding staff recently, particularly with low pay across the industry set by multi-national security firms who push prices for hiring security staff down.
Dignon is confident things will improve, however.
"We're not a new company, we've been around the block so we know how to work through it, it's just really challenging at the moment.
"It's a great industry to work in and there's a lot to look forward to."
Northland Chamber of Commerce president Tim Robinson said it was only multi-store retail or service chains, often jewellers and banks, who were hiring security guards.
However, he believed shop owners should not need to resort to private security as it was the responsibility of the police to protect shops and their staff.
"In a perfect world, businesses should not be responsible for security, whether patrolling or protection of property. That is 100 per cent the remit of police.
"If police aren't doing their job, they need to be held to account over it."
Northland shop owners, like those in the rest of the country, were concerned about recent ram raids and burglaries, Robinson said.
There have been a number of ram raids in Whangārei in recent months, including two over Matariki weekend, at Kathmandu and Torpedo 7.
Whangārei Liquorland and Graeme Johnson Jewels and Time in Kamo were also targeted by ram raiders in June.
In this year's budget, the Government announced a $6m package to help fund security measures for shops, but this was focused on solutions such as bollards and alarms, rather than security guards.
As well as ram raids, there was an increase in the number of incidents in the Whangārei CBD - including fighting, disorder and dishonesty - reported to City Safe earlier this year.
Issues with this anti-social behaviour have since improved after City Safe patrols were increased, Robinson said.
Whangārei District councillor Gavin Benney said following these issues in the CBD, the council approved his motion for an extra $200,000 in funding for City Safe patrols over 12 months.
Benney has also been working with MP Emily Henderson and government agencies to find other solutions to the problem.
"The danger with City Safe is that we continue to give more and more funding and the police back off and let us do the work," he said.
Benney, who worked as a police officer for 30 years before becoming a councillor, said he believed tackling the smaller crimes would help prevent larger ones, such as ram raids.
"If you ignore the small stuff, it turns into the big stuff."
Senior Sergeant Christian Stainton, Whangārei area prevention manager, said police understood how frustrating crimes such as burglaries and ram raids can be for shop owners.
"This takes time and money to repair and can be disheartening and frightening for owners and staff.
"We want to reassure small business in Whangārei that local investigation, prevention and frontline teams are working hard to locate offenders and hold them to account."
Stainton said police are well-connected with retail advocates, business associations and chambers of commerce in their communities.
"Small business owners can be reassured that their local police across the country will continue to work with them to address their needs."