This is over the revelation that police aren't bothering to investigate shoplifting below $500 bucks anymore.
They're clearly worried, because what's happened is there's been a revelation from a memo that was sent to police staff a couple of months ago, saying that from now on, across all districts, cops will no longer investigate theft and fraud below a certain value.
General theft - anything below $200, not investigating. Petrol drive-offs - anything below $150, not investigating. Shoplifting - anything below $500, not investigating.
Fraud - as in paywave fraud, online fraud, scams, anything below $1000 and then all other fraud - anything below $500, cops aren't turning up.
And that is, by the way, regardless of whether you have lines of inquiry. So even if you know who nicked the stuff, even if you can tell them where the stuff is, they're not going to investigate.
Now, it's totally understandable for retailers to want an urgent meeting on this, because this has probably come as something of a shock.
But also, this is the reality, isn't it? There are not enough police to deal with all the crime in the country. We know that.
It's not really even a total surprise when you think about how many stories you've heard about people who go to the police, tell the police exactly where the bike is, where the police can go and find it because it's been nicked, and the police won't go and get it.
But, this is gonna be a problem, isn't it?
When the thieves start finding out about this stuff - cause they may be criminals, but they're not always stupid - they know what they can get away with scot-free.
And that is why so many of them just ended up brazenly pushing those loaded trolleys out of the supermarkets for a while there, cause they knew nothing was gonna happen to them. I suspect the same thing is gonna happen once they figure out what the thresholds are here.
And if this is the reality that we now live in, then I think the only solution to this is for the Government to get out of the way of retailers helping themselves.
They need to let the supermarkets use that facial recognition technology they want to use, so they can stop people from coming in and committing the crime.
They need to pass the citizen's arrests law to allow the retailers and the security guards themselves to stop the criminals getting away with this stuff.
Because frankly, if the cops can't help - and clearly there aren't enough of them to help - then the retailers need the tools to be able to help themselves.
Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and commentator who hosts Newstalk ZB's Drive show HERE - where this article was sourced.
13 comments:
Little wonder a vast amount of crime goes unreported.
It is some time since I wasted a quarter hour reporting to the 105 number. Uncommonly able sounding staff answer and ask questions suggesting genuine concern. Then I was asked if the crime exceeded I recall $450, a fairly clear indication any less not of interest. And even above, a signed witness statement was discounted as also my observation as victim present; Instead I was later upbraided for not having tv cameras on a private home. The effort of bringing a prosecution is obviously seen as a luxury. Does not stop them pursuing technical traffic breaches.
It has always amazed me how law and order was maintained in the 19th century, and especially before a police force, and especially in wild NZ. From Polack a reprinted 8 Dec 1837 official notice from Australia following repeat complaints from Busby about his inability to enforce law. The notice advised that one Edward Doyle had been found guilty by the supreme Court in Australia of "stealing in a dwelling house, at the Bay of Islands, on the 18th June last, and putting John Wright in bodily fear, and Doyle has been executed accordingly this day." Transportation was also very effective. Both measures could hugely reduce the Te Pati voters. The prospect of the protective British law extending to them after the Treaty was a factor for many maori signing.Without out it many would not have survived for their descendants to enjoy their state houses.
Good effort , Heather spread the word . Thanks for nothing . Probably could be used on radio as well to try to reach your target audience
But say some unpleasant things about protected races or religions and they will be knocking on your door.
NZ Police need to be taken to court for failing to perform their duties by setting arbitrary limits to their enforcement of the law and fined until they commit to doing so. This is dereliction of duty.
When you ring the 'plod', tell them it was $500.01
This is remarkably stupid of the NZ Police. 1500 robberies are not committed by 1500 separate people, it’s the same small group of thieves over and over. Find, recover, prosecute and punish. Every stolen bike, every pack of lamb shanks, every piece of jewellery a seperate charge. Lock them up and spare me the courtroom remorse.
A fascinating but worrisome figure to calculate would be how much we consumers have to pay retailers to make up for stuff that has been nicked - when I pay $100 for groceries, for instance, am I paying $5, $10 or maybe $15 of that to compensate for shoplifting? People would sit up and take note as the cost of living is of great general concern.
Twenty years ago, when George Hawkins was Labour Police Minister, he declared loudly " if you are burgled, do not go to the Police, they are too busy , go straight to your insurance company "
Have things improved since then ?
No, and it really became more rotten under the Ardern Government, with the ram raids, and "you can't touch me, I'm only 14".
Then the softy, give them another dozen changes to say sorry, lefty judges.
Then, we need to close the prisons, and reform the crims in open society.
Time to get seriously tough again.
The solution isn’t more cameras or facial recognition. They just shift the problem elsewhere.
I can see people taking it upon themselves to apprehend and perhaps punish offenders.
That should get the police around pretty quick.
Their advice would be 'you shouldn't have done that, it was only $499"
Surely Police are themselves breaking the law by knowingly failing to enforce breaches of 'the law'? Else what is the basis of such failure to enforce - other than say corruption or incompetence or racism? The dollar value limits mentioned above are not written into law, so must be the result of someone's discretion over matters in which they have no legal right of discretion. Truly bizarre situation, but one noted in other areas of 'the law' e.g. the irksome issue of noisy vehicles which impact us all to varying degrees on a daily basis.
Where victims have clear evidence (tv, witness' etc) can the Disputes Tribunal handle and order recompense? If contact the Justice Dept they simply say they do not give legal advice and suggest taking a case and see what happens....! Most lawyers know little about theTtribunal because they do not appear so it is not one of their cash cows.
In the events in which I was involved the culprit, although leading a normal life, has some personality disorder. By the Police not not nipping in the bud initially illegal actions have got progressively more bold to the extent that I now fear for my person and home. This effectively precludes me from taking any action as an indidvidual.
the rules of the game need to be changed... the police needs to be incentivised similar to traffic tickets. how about we let police take a 10% cut from the retailer in addition to extorting money from the perpetrator in lieu of dropping any charges!
since we have on track to becoming a third-world country, maybe it's time we starting acting like one :(
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