Safety steps in place - shopkeepers

Wanganui dairy owners say they are as prepared as they can be for robberies following the killing of an Auckland dairy owner this week.

Yesterday the Chronicle asked the town's dairy owners how they kept safe and if they held concerns.

They said keeping staffing numbers up and making staff aware of what to do was important, along with standard measures such as cameras, security buttons and delayed sliding doors.

Aramoho Four Square owner John Sharp said safety was a constant focus for staff. "We put all these things in place. It's about awareness," he said.

Mr Sharp said having high staff numbers was also a key aspect of safety. He always had three on at a time and they carried RT radios.

He has owned Four Square stores for seven years without incident, but he thought some of the reporting of the details was unhelpful. "It sort of worries me the way that it [the Auckland incident] has been advertised.

"I thought that was a bit on the nose. It's bad enough as it is."

Mr Sharp said his staff were as educated as possible on safety.

"You can have all the protection in the world but it's still not going to stop them," he said.

Eastside Dairy owner Peter Clarke agreed that staffing numbers were important.

"I haven't got too many worries because there's three shops around here open until 9pm," he said. "But I've told my staff if anybody was to come in, not to be heroes."

He agreed with Mr Sharp in that he never had staff working alone.

On Tuesday morning a West Auckland dairy owner was stabbed in the neck at his store.

A 13-year-old boy has been charged with his murder. The teenager and a 12-year-old boy are also facing a joint charge of assault with intent to rob.