Police data reveals 2024 retail crime spike: Business group says situation ‘continues to worsen’ despite Government promises

Internal police data has revealed retail crime has continued to surge under the National-led Government, with a 17% increase in the first five months of 2024 compared to the same period last year.

The data, released by the Dairy and Business Owners’ Group sourced from policedata.nz, showed there had been 8207 more theft and related offences such as shoplifting, 66 more cases of acts intended to cause injury like assaults and 17 more cases of sexual assaults and related offences over the period in question.

Over the five months, shoplifting and theft spiked to 49,505 cases, up from 41,298 last year, and 1670 assault cases were attended by police, an increase from 1604.

There was also a total of 106 sexual assaults, up from 89, according to the data.

The data paints a unflattering picture ot the Government’s key policy pledge to crack down on retail crime with the introduction of new police initiatives to curb violence and anti-social behaviour.

“Dairy owners are yet to see any meaningful dent in retail crime,” says Manish Thakkar, chairman of the Dairy and Business Owners’ Group.

Thakkar acknowledged there has been some “good news” - with robberies and related offences down 5% to 386 cases, and burglaries down 10% to 2636 cases.

“Yes it’s less bad, but it is still bad,” he said.

“Ram raids in the first five months of 2024 are down 62% on the same period in 2023. They’re at their lowest since 2020 but the numbers in 2024 to 31 May, are still more than twice higher than in 2020.”

Jewellery store owner, Gurdeep Singh, 50, was seriously injured after being struck over the head by a hammer and stabbed in the forehead by teenage armed robbers.

Thakkar said the 5% fall in robberies meant there was still an average of two and a half robberies happening each day, and police were still handling 18 burglaries daily even with the 10% fall in incidences of unlawful entry.

“The bad news is that ‘acts intended to cause injury’ like we saw with the recent hammer attack on a security guard, are up 4%. To the end of May, there’s been around 11 assaults every day,” Thakkar said.

“Worryingly, sexual offences are up 19% on the same period in 2023; 106 so far recorded in 2024.”

In response to the 2024 crime data, Police Minister Mark Mitchell said the Government are “working as hard as we can” with police and the retail sector to get on top of the crime situation.

“Addressing retail crime is a priority for this Government, and we’re providing police with additional powers and tools to get offenders off our streets,” Mitchell said.

“Our focus is on increasing police visibility in our CBDs and communities, establishing youth military academies and strengthening legislation to ensure offenders are held to account.”

He said the results wouldn’t be overnight but “we are making progress”.

A police spokesman said they were focused on preventing retail crime and holding offenders to account.

“We recognise the impact this offending has on hard working members of the retail community and their staff and customers,” he said.

Last Sunday, a security guard was bashed in the head with a hammer by armed assailants during a thwarted aggravated robbery at the Sona Sansaar jewellery store on Stoddard Rd in Auckland.

Last month, a jewellery store owner in Papatoetoe suffered a skull fracture and cuts after teenage robbers used a hammer and knife to bash and stab him.

The act was captured on CCTV and the attackers stopped only after the man’s son fought back using a large Sikh ceremonial sword.

Manish Thakkar, Dairy and Business Owners Group chairman.

“Theft has again yet exploded and now means retailers are reporting an average of almost 14 thefts every hour of every day, 325 a day and 49,505 to the end of May,” Thakkar said.

“This rate will surpass 2023, a record crime year that beat the previous worst year, which was 2022.”

Thakkar said New Zealand was headed down “the disastrous UK route where shoplifting is not seen as a police priority that greenlights theft on an industrial scale”.

The group had been calling for a return to the pre-2017 policing model where retail was “the literal canary in a crime mine and not an afterthought”.

“Clearly, the coalition Government has a lot to do because we’re seeing things continue to worsen,” Thakkar said.

“We just hope the old saying is true. Things may get worse, before they get better.”

Police Minister Mark Mitchell said the Government is working on battling crime.

Police are focused on preventing retail crime and holding offenders to account.

Assistant Police Commissioner Investigations Paul Basham noted in July that police prioritised cases which had a risk of violence or harm to people.

“That threat of harm in our community creates fear. That is not acceptable for any person simply going to work to do their job,” he said.

“We know there are offenders who actively target retail outlets and police will continue to target those offenders, who cause a significant loss to the retail community.”

Prolific offenders who have been arrested included a 36-year-old man who faced 26 theft and shoplifting charges and three others who faced more than 40 charges.

The spokesman said ram raids have continued to trend down to the lowest number of 15 in April compared to a high of 86 in 2022, and 534 aggravated robbery offenders had court proceedings initiated against them and another 99 are going through non-court and youth processes in the year to April.

“Police have increased our visibility in main centres with the introduction of our Community Beat Teams in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and we have already heard positive feedback from retailers,” he said.

“Police will continue to work closely with our partners across the retail sector and we remain committed to target these serious offences and recidivist offenders, with many of our districts having dedicated teams or operations in place.”

There have been a 63% increase in police foot patrols in central Auckland and 3860 security measures installed through the Retail Crime Prevention Programme.

More than 75% of retail theft and shoplifting were now reported to police through Auror, a retail crime intelligence and loss prevention platform.