New data has revealed the country’s capital of business break-ins, and it’s bad news for those in the heart of the North Island.
The data show Rotorua has the highest proportion of commercial/business break-ins at 40.3 per 10,000 residents, with 237 business break-ins over the last year.
That figure sits 115% higher than the urban New Zealand average of 18.7 break-ins per 10,000 residents.
Conversely, Porirua has the lowest level of commercial break-ins, with a rate of 6.1 break-ins per 10,000 residents, reporting just 37 break-ins over the same period.
Porirua had significantly smaller proportion of break-ins than Rotorua – the statistic a staggering 560% lower despite the city having 1800 more residents.
New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, came in ninth, at 5% under the urban average with 17.7 break-ins per 10,000 residents. Of course, the total number of break-ins is higher due to its much larger population, at 2714.
The top 10 cities were Rotorua, Napier, Palmerston North, Hamilton, Christchurch, Hastings, Gisborne, Whangārei, Auckland and Nelson.
Collected and filtered by Auckland CCTV and measured over the last year, the data is based on police victimisation reports using the victimisation type “Unlawful Entry with Intent/Burglary, Break and Enter”.
It was then filtered to remove all residential, community, public and unspecified location types from the data, leaving only commercial burglaries/break-ins within city limits.
A spokesman for Rotorua Lakes Council said it collaborated closely with law enforcement and provided CCTV footage upon receiving a request to assist in identifying individuals involved in criminal activities.
“Business confidence is high in Rotorua at present, as evidenced in the latest Rotorua Business Pulse Report, with businesses expecting the economic situation in our city to continue improving over the next 12 months,” the spokesman said.
The RotoruaNZ Business Pulse report said nearly 52% of respondents used “growth” or “recovery” when forming a one-word description of Rotorua.
Only 10.3% of respondents thought safety concerns should be the highest priority for Rotorua over the next 12 months, with a combined 35.6% instead focused on economic development and reputation/branding.
A spokesman for Rotorua’s Chamber of Commerce said that Rotorua is unfortunately no exception to the harm of retail crime.
“Any type of retail crime not only significantly impacts the individual business targeted, but also colours the perception of a city by prospective new businesses,” the spokesman said.
“The chamber has been working with city leaders to prioritise and address this issue head-on.”
The spokesperson referenced the Inner City Community Safety Hub, a hub in the CBD designed for Safe City Guardians, Rotorua Police, Māori Wardens, local community safety volunteers and other security providers to meet, co-ordinate resources and support inner city businesses.
According to the chamber, the initiative has helped grow local businesses' confidence as they tackle the challenge that is retail crime.
Auckland CCTV’s Tim Pavlov emphasised the importance of modern security initiatives such as video recordings to ensure crimes can be prosecuted accordingly.
“New Zealand has a precedent of only punishing property crime based on hard evidence,” Pavlov said.
“If there is no direct proof that they did it, your losses may be irrecoverable and building damages unpaid for.”
Porirua Chamber of Commerce board member Steve Lovell said he wasn’t surprised by the city’s outstanding business security record.
“The remarkably low rate is a direct result of our collaborative approach to business security,” Lovell said.
“We’ve cultivated a tight-knit business community where owners and operators regularly share information and support one another.”
Lovell credited the working relationship between Porirua City Council’s economic development team, the chamber and police with ensuring the community can respond to activity proactively rather than reactively.
“This data validates what we’ve long known – that Porirua’s collaborative approach between business owners, local government and law enforcement creates an environment where businesses can thrive safely.
“It’s a model we’re proud of and continue to strengthen.”
Rotorua has been actively pursuing initiatives to reduce crime in its CBD, including an expanded CCTV camera network and mobile security patrols.
The inner-city crackdown by Rotorua Lakes Council and police began last year after a series of attacks on students near a CBD bus stop.
Along with opening the Inner-City Community Safety Hub, more resources were put into CCTV, contracted foot patrols were swapped for vehicle-based security, Safe City Guardians numbers grew and police hired a second CBD-based community constable.
The successes of its strategy were down to the partnerships with police, Māori Wardens, Bay of Plenty Regional Council, retailers and community groups, Lovell said.
The council would continue to focus on the CBD but stretch that area to include the largely residential suburbs Glenholme and Fenton Park to the south.
It would look to build its CCTV network in the suburbs, using the $100,000 a year for expansion and $65,000 for renewals allocated in its Long-Term Plan and make a camera strategy with police.
It was considering community safety in setting bylaws around issues such as dog control and alcohol harm.
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business and retail.
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