Organised shoplifting, police paper work appals store owner
A liquor store owner in South Auckland is complaining of organised shoplifting that continues unabated without any fear of tougher punishment – and even worse, the amount of police paper work that follows with literally no outcome, making it difficult to run their business.
Experts believe that shoplifting costs the economy about $1.2 billion a year.
Harinek Singh, 40, the owner of a liquor store in Otara named Liquor Baron, has owned the store for just over two years and on last Friday experienced his eighth major instance of shoplifting, where shoplifters helped themselves without paying for what they took away. This is after discounting numerous occasions of smaller shoplifting incidents that the storeowner does not report to police.
“This was the eighth instance of shoplifting that we have reported to police since buying this store more than two years ago,” Mr Singh told Indian Weekender, showing an incident record that the shop maintains after every incident is reported to police.
“Every time we have been able to provide to the police all CCTV footage and other details required to assist in their investigation, but no one has ever been caught.
“We do not even bother to report smaller incidences where shoplifters escape with smaller value goods,” Mr Singh said.
In this instance, the financial loss was worth $500 and the shopkeeper has chosen not to claim insurance. It would not make sense with the excess working out to be more than the actual loss, Mr Singh said.
However, these losses accumulate over a period of time with repeated number of smaller incidences of shoplifting that go without reporting to police or insurance and accumulating the amount of loss to the business.
“This is definitely the handiwork of organised gangs who appear to be working like any other normal office-goers except that they prey on someone else’s hard work rather than their own,” said an exasperated Mr Singh.
“What follows reporting of such incidences to police is also not very helpful as their investigating team takes a lot of time and paperwork for no obvious results,” Mr Singh said.
Retail NZ – an advocacy group for retailers in New Zealand has been calling for the government to fund a Retail Crime Taskforce within the Police.
However, in absence of more information on the nature of the proposed Retail Crime Task Force, shopkeepers and store owners seem to be divided on the need for a separate retail crime task force separate from the normal police.
“The crime investigation team that arrived in my store had locked the store for about two to three hours on Friday, which is a busy day for our business, driving away lots of customers and resulting in loss of business,” Mr Singh said.
“This was different from my previous experience with police when the follow-up investigation was short and quick,” Mr Singh recalled.
However, there is no difference in the outcome.
“We are yet to receive any news on arrests or recovery of our stolen goods so far,” Mr Singh said.
A liquor store owner in South Auckland is complaining of organised shoplifting that continues unabated without any fear of tougher punishment – and even worse, the amount of police paper work that follows with literally no outcome, making it difficult to run their business.
Experts believe that...
A liquor store owner in South Auckland is complaining of organised shoplifting that continues unabated without any fear of tougher punishment – and even worse, the amount of police paper work that follows with literally no outcome, making it difficult to run their business.
Experts believe that shoplifting costs the economy about $1.2 billion a year.
Harinek Singh, 40, the owner of a liquor store in Otara named Liquor Baron, has owned the store for just over two years and on last Friday experienced his eighth major instance of shoplifting, where shoplifters helped themselves without paying for what they took away. This is after discounting numerous occasions of smaller shoplifting incidents that the storeowner does not report to police.
“This was the eighth instance of shoplifting that we have reported to police since buying this store more than two years ago,” Mr Singh told Indian Weekender, showing an incident record that the shop maintains after every incident is reported to police.
“Every time we have been able to provide to the police all CCTV footage and other details required to assist in their investigation, but no one has ever been caught.
“We do not even bother to report smaller incidences where shoplifters escape with smaller value goods,” Mr Singh said.
In this instance, the financial loss was worth $500 and the shopkeeper has chosen not to claim insurance. It would not make sense with the excess working out to be more than the actual loss, Mr Singh said.
However, these losses accumulate over a period of time with repeated number of smaller incidences of shoplifting that go without reporting to police or insurance and accumulating the amount of loss to the business.
“This is definitely the handiwork of organised gangs who appear to be working like any other normal office-goers except that they prey on someone else’s hard work rather than their own,” said an exasperated Mr Singh.
“What follows reporting of such incidences to police is also not very helpful as their investigating team takes a lot of time and paperwork for no obvious results,” Mr Singh said.
Retail NZ – an advocacy group for retailers in New Zealand has been calling for the government to fund a Retail Crime Taskforce within the Police.
However, in absence of more information on the nature of the proposed Retail Crime Task Force, shopkeepers and store owners seem to be divided on the need for a separate retail crime task force separate from the normal police.
“The crime investigation team that arrived in my store had locked the store for about two to three hours on Friday, which is a busy day for our business, driving away lots of customers and resulting in loss of business,” Mr Singh said.
“This was different from my previous experience with police when the follow-up investigation was short and quick,” Mr Singh recalled.
However, there is no difference in the outcome.
“We are yet to receive any news on arrests or recovery of our stolen goods so far,” Mr Singh said.
Leave a Comment