Westfield Newmarket in Auckland. File picture. Photo: RNZ / Katie Doyle
Two years on from setting up its own security service a popular Auckland shopping precinct says it has slashed crime in its area, but it is appealing to the government for help with some people who are still falling through the cracks.
In the past year the Newmarket security team has recovered more than $170,000 of stolen product, dealt with 88 breaches of tresspass orders and 416 repeat offenders.
One person was involved in dozens of separate incidents.
The most stolen items in order are groceries, followed by clothing and then alcohol.
Newmarket Business Association chief executive Mark Knoff Thomas told Checkpoint there had been some very positive results.
The association initially had one security guard and one part-time camera operator when it started in 2023, but there are now five full-time security guards and one camera operator who are operating 24/7.
Knoff Thomas said they work very closely with the police which had helped considerably.
Three years ago crime in Newmarket was at another level with smash and grabs and ram raids, he said.
Nationally it seemed that a lid had been put on those types of crimes, he said.
"But retail theft is still bubbling away and I mean it's costing New Zealand $2.6 billion a year."
The Newmarket Security Team had dealt with 416 repeat offenders in the last year and Knoff Thomas said that was for a range of things including retail theft and anti-social behaviour.
There are about 30 schools in the surrounding area and many students use public transport and pass through Newmarket, he said.
But sometimes young people do make dumb decisions and offend, he said.
A different approach was taken to juvenile offending and the association did what it could to try and get them back on track, he said.
"With kids we try and intervene where we possibly can, try and get parents involved, try and get schools involved and see if we can kind of head them off in a different, in a more positive trajectory with some success.
"And there are some kids who you know they also go down the bad pathway and then we see them back years later as adults and they're still reoffending."
Some adults seemed to be falling through the cracks and not getting the support they needed despite some very good work by some agencies such as the New Zealand police, he said.
His group had been working with a range of other business associations to try and address the problem, he said.
"Trying to say 'hey let's fix this because this has been a problem for a very long time across multiple governments and we need to find a sustainable solution which is going to deliver some better lifestyles for these people who aren't getting the help that they need.'"
One person who Knoff Thomas believed was falling through the cracks had been involved in 33 incidents.
Most of the time they were a lovely person but there were times when they behaved inappropriately in public when under the influence of alcohol or drugs, he said.
The person was in a cycle of being trespassed, arrested, processed and then released, he said.
"There really doesn't seem to be a solution for someone like this person to give that person the help that they actually need in a sustainable way so they can actually have a better quality of life."
A number of people were in that position and unable to access services they needed, he said.
Knoff Thomas said it was understandable that businesses would want to move on someone who was creating problems and potentially detering customers.
But the other side was where that person should go.
"These are questions which we're looking at. There needs to be a linked together multi agency approach where services work in step and they're not working in silos which they have done historically, they're working together in unison and linking, holding hands, pulling this person through the steps that they need into a solution."
Major issues include housing, mental health, health and may need to involve Ministry of Social Development and police, he said.
Long term solutions are needed when dealing with this type of reoffending and it needed bi-partisan agreement in government, he said.
"It needs to be coordinated and agreed upon, a multi agency approach which goes through time and not just through one political cycle."
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