Action plan to tackle crime
The Motor Trade Association (MTA) has launched a 10-point action plan to tackle crime as it calls on the government to take an innovative approach to protecting service station workers and other retail businesses from offenders.
The association’s Position Statement on Service Station Crime lists a raft of suggestions to help address an issue it says threatens thousands of hard-working Kiwis and costs millions of dollars.
Lee Marshall, MTA’s chief executive, adds crime is a daily reality or risk for service stations and their employees.
“Violent smash-and-grab robberies leave vulnerable workers injured and traumatised. Drive-off fuel theft hits the bottom line of independent service stations hard,” he explains.
“And communities are victims too – because service stations help Kiwis and families travel every day. Crime against service stations is crime against the community.”
Police data shows for the first five months of this year there have been 60 aggravated robberies and almost 12,000 reports of theft from service stations.
Marshall says no one wants service stations to become fortresses of reinforced glass and bars so the MTA has developed a plan to work with the government on “keeping people safe and secure, and to make a real difference”.
It has developed its suggestions based on the experience and feedback of its 920 service station members and research of the problem overseas.
Calls in the plan include:
• Extending the police community beat patrols initiative to include “hot spot” motorised, night-time patrolling of service stations, particularly in high-risk areas
• Remove a discount for remorse at sentencing if offenders have shared video taken while committing retail crime and shared it on social media
• Government investigating the viability of enabling retailers to claim a rebate on relevant taxes on stolen fuel
• Require insurance companies to maintain premiums and excesses at reasonable and not punitive levels, and do not cancel cover because of crime
• Develop a new Retail Crime Action Strategy with New Zealand Police and other applicable agencies, and call on police to change their approach to service station crime.
Marshall says many of the action points would benefit the entire retail sector, with crime a serious threat for many businesses.
“The creation of the ministerial advisory group on retail crime is a positive step,” he adds. “A whole-of-industry approach is needed to tackle this crisis head-on. We are ready to work with all parties to keep Kiwis safe – everyone deserves that.”
