The crime rate has gone up in New Zealand. According to the latest crime statistics, there has been an increase of 3.1% for the year ended June 30, 2016. Burglaries have gone up by 13% and robberies by 12%. Indian Weekender takes a look at the recent incidents in the community, some of which raises questions over the concerned authorities’ approach to bringing justice to the grieved citizens.
A dairy on Christchurch’s Ferry Road was robbed during the early hours of Saturday, August 20, where three men barged in at about 3:30 a.m. with a gun barrel, The Press reported.
The three robbers were wearing hoods, scarves, and hats to cover their faces and threatened the staff member as they took away the dairy’s overnight earning of $500–600 along with packets of cigarettes.
The manager of the dairy, Jaskaran Singh, said that this was the most serious robbery at the Dairy as the earlier ones were minor where robbers didn’t have any firearms.
He stated that his staff member was “pretty scared” after the trio pointed the gun at him asking to open the till.
"I will let him rest for the night, or two nights," Singh was quoted as saying.
In the past few months, Ferry Road has become a hub for such incidents. On August 15, two Christchurch pubs were targeted, as armed robbers stole about $20,000 from one of the pubs.
On August 9, at about 2:40 a.m., three balaclava-clad people armed with a hammer, rifle, and a bat robbed 24/7 Buns Bakery, which had been robbed three weeks before by a group of men armed with screwdrivers and knives. In the latest development of the events, the police had arrested a teenager in connection with both robberies at the bakery.
In the Canterbury police district, the robberies have risen by 32%, up from 252 to 333 in this year.
In another robbery incident, a house in Auckland was robbed on August 14. A woman, who was caught on the CCTV camera, entered the house through a window and stole valuables.
The offender was later arrested, and the victims got some of their possessions back. However, she was soon let on bail. The victim, Nisha Nazareth, says that the police didn’t take any serious action against the robber and “it makes me angry that the girls just walked away scot-free.”
Justice delayed is justice denied
Mt Roskill residents Kumuda and Sasikanth Kandalam's house was broken into on June 21, and they are still awaiting justice.
Talking to Indian Weekender about the fateful day, Kumuda said, "We had gone for our citizenship ceremony that day. We came back home at about 2:15 p.m. and saw that our garden lights were crushed, and the main door was broken. My husband went in to check if it is safe for the kids and me to enter the house.
“Two rooms were completely ransacked. All the drawers were taken out on the bed. We had a backpack with all our jewellery, cash, and kids’ passports; it was all gone. Our clothes and other artificial jewellery were lying on the bed.”
The couple lost $1500 cash, gold jewellery worth $70,000, and some silverware.
Sasikanth called the police immediately and gave them details of the incident. A lady from the forensic team visited their house the following evening to take fingerprints.
“The front door was broken, and we had to get it fixed, so the forensic lady found no prints on the door. She didn’t even come inside. The police told us to upload any evidence we had on the police website. We got the CCTV footage from the house in front of ours and uploaded it on the website,” Kumuda adds.
It’s been more than two months, but the couple is still waiting to hear back from the police.
“They never called us to give any update. We called the police two or three times but still nothing.”
Kumuda says that she is afraid in her house as a couple of days ago, again a group of men was checking out their house from the backyard, and when her husband approached them, they ran away in the car making an obscene gesture. She says that they have lost trust in the police.
“When I asked my husband to inform police about this recent incident, he said ‘what will the police do’ and didn’t bother to inform them. But I thought it is my responsibility to inform the police, so I called them the next day.”
Kumuda says that it is disappointing that the police is unable to ensure the safety of people.
Incidents such as this raise questions not only about the capability of the police but also if New Zealand has enough number of police officers. Recent statistics show that the ratio of police officers to the population went down from 1:488 in 2008–09 to 1:503 in 2014–15.
Prime Minister John Key recently admitted that a boost in the number of police officers was likely.
"Law and order is an area that the government cares a lot about; we've been investing heavily in that area. We're not ruling out that there'll be more police, but it won't be because Winston Peters wants them. It's because it's appropriate as our population grows there will likely be an increase in the number of constabulary forces that we have," the PM said.