Something needs to be done before the city becomes the slum capital of New Zealand, councillor says
The amount of emergency housing in Rotorua has been blamed by frustrated business owners as a contributing factor for the recent spate of ram raids.
Over the past 12 months, more than 400 raids have been made across Aotearoa, with Bay of Plenty businesses among those most targeted.
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With most crimes so far not prosecuted, Bay of Plenty business owners sat down in a meeting with police and community leaders to talk about the problem and to urge further action, RNZ reported.
Media were not allowed to attend the meeting, but attendees spoke to RNZ outside.
“We used to be New Zealand’s number-one visitor destination, where we felt safe and secure in our homes and we were proud of offering manaakitanga to our visitors,” Rotorua local Don Paterson told the media organisation. “Now we wouldn’t even rate in the top 10. People are avoiding Rotorua like the plague.”
Ram raids, Paterson said, were a new phenomenon in the city performed by offenders seeking notoriety.
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“They just love being famous, so they jumped on that as an opportunity, and of course with the gangs… They know that these young ones don’t get punished, so they send them out to do their dirty work,” he said. “And as far as the public goes, we’re fed up with it. Our community has been getting given a real kicking for the last three years. People are seeing that the police are overstretched, resources can’t cope, and now it’s going to be onto the business owners to put bollards and security systems in place. That’s not a nice way to operate. That’s just not fair.”
The meeting was held following the ram raid of the RotomÄ service station earlier in August – the third time the station had been targeted, with thieves stealing $10,000 worth of cigarettes, vapes, and sunglasses.
James Magatogia, Super Liquor operations manager, said franchises in the area were being targeted on a frighteningly frequent basis and that the amount of emergency housing in Rotorua worsened the problem. Megatogia also noted that it would take more than just heightening the security to address the issue.
“Bollards will stop a car going through a window, but that’s not going to stop people smashing the glass windows,” he told RNZ. “It's not going to stop the 4am callouts that we have to get out of bed and to come and clean up. They’re not going to stop the hassling of customers… There needs to be something to assist us with that as well.”
Todd McClay, Rotorua electorate MP, said businesses were feeling demoralised and ignored.
“The growing concern of the community, particularly amongst the shop owners who feel picked on, is that we’re starting to see more and more ram raids in the area,” McClay told RNZ. “Not that long ago, my son’s car was stolen from outside the house and used for a ram raid.”
He claimed that young people from Auckland come to the area to perform ram raids.
“The police are doing everything they can, but they’re under-resourced in Rotorua,” McClay said. “They need more government support, more police on the beat, so they can get on top of this to make sure that shopkeepers and the public is safe.”
The meeting was organised by Raj Kumar, superette owner and city councillor, with a follow-up community meeting being arranged in four to six weeks’ time.
“Something needs to be done before Rotorua becomes the boarded-up capital, the slum capital, or the bollard capital of New Zealand,” Kumar told RNZ. “It's just not going to be a place where tourists, let alone locals, will want to be. Rotorua is a beautiful city, always has been a wonderful place. People have come over here for adventure tourism, people have come over here for all sorts of activities. You know it's ‘godzone’ and we need to keep it that way.”
