Luke Kirkness: Struggling business owners deserve more aid from the Govt fighting ram raids

Super Liqour on Fenton St was been ram raided twice in quick succession. Photo / Andrew Warner

OPINION:

Another day, another ram raid, another burglary, another crime against businesses.

That seems to be the way of the world at the moment.

As if being a business owner hasn't been hard enough these past few years with Covid-19, now they're facing a bunch of sleazeballs who appear to be good for nothing except creating a mess and ruining livelihoods.

Yesterday, it was reported Te Puke Jewellers and Rotorua Jewellers' owners Rod and Jannine Pearce had been the victims of about 30 burglaries or attempted break-ins over the past 15 years - with more than $80,000 of jewellery and watches stolen.

A recent break-in allegedly caused $2500 to $3000 in damage, with a couple of hundred dollars worth of watches stolen. And in the past couple of years, the Pearces have had around a dozen attempted break-ins.

It comes after it was reported in May that ram raids had tripled across the Bay of Plenty between 2019 and 2021.

Bay of Plenty Police district manager intelligence Inspector Brendon Keenan said at the time most ram raids were committed by groups of two or more male offenders aged between 14 and 19.

Keenan said motivations for the crimes included exchanging stolen property for drugs and seeking prestige by offenders posting videos of themselves committing the ram raids.

To help address the problem, Western Bay of Plenty and Waikato police launched Operation Pryor to turn the tables on the rise in vehicle thefts in the wider Bay of Plenty and Waikato.

But it wouldn't surprise me if business owners decide to start erecting cages around their windows and installing bollards out the front, but that's hardly inviting as a customer.

What else are business owners to do? Become vigilantes? I think that's an even less likely scenario but who's to say it won't happen?

Then there would be a real mess.

Police Minister Chris Hipkins said police had worked closely with vulnerable small businesses to identify solutions since its $6 million retail crime prevention programme was announced and an estimated 500 retailers were expected to qualify for the fund.

Only 500? That seems like a number far too small to make a serious difference.

In Budget 2022, the Government continued its investment in frontline police after the goal of an additional 1800 officers would be achieved six months ahead of schedule. It wants to maintain an ongoing ratio of one officer to every 480 Kiwis. But even then, I don't think that's going to be enough - police can't be everywhere.

Any hope of deterring these types of crimes must surely be out the window by now.

I believe spending more money to help businesses is something the Government would be hesitant to do given the current situation with inflation. In April it reached a 30-year high of 6.9 per cent.

But something needs to be done.

The Government owes it to struggling business owners.