Holistic solutions and foggy criteria

RAM RAIDS AND RANDOM ROBBERIES ARE A DAILY THREAT TO MTA SERVICE STATION MEMBERS, AND MTA IS URGING THE GOVERNMENT TO INCLUDE THEM IN NEW FUNDING AND INITIATIVES ANNOUNCED LATE NOVEMBER

Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced last November that $4000 would be made available for all small shop and dairy owners in New Zealand who want a fog cannon installed, with any additional cost to be paid by the business owner.

“We fully support dairies and small retailers getting protection,” says MTA media and PR manager Simon Bradwell. “The horrific recent events underline just how important that is.”

As most service stations are also effectively shops, MTA says they should be able to access the subsidy as well, but when they contacted the then Police Minister Chris Hipkins’ office for clarity on what is defined as a ‘shop’ under the subsidy criteria, they were only told that more information would be released soon.

A Holistic Solution

What is also concerning and confusing to MTA members is the police strategy. A “holistic” approach was mentioned during a recent discussion with the police in relation to the $6 million government fund announced earlier this year to help businesses protect themselves from raids and robberies. Yet many members are at a loss as to what this strategy actually means.

“I don’t even understand what [‘holistic solution orientation’] means,” says MTA member Dipak Bagia, who operates 16 Caltex stations, some of which have been victims of ram raids and robberies in the past year.

“My personal attitude is that our members need access to those resources — we are the first port of call when police require assistance with CCTV review and fog cannons, bollards, CCTV upgrades, and other technology-based solutions. Face recognition systems and number plate recognition are becoming a must,” Dipak says.

Expensive high-tech systems can’t be installed without funding, he says, and the current squeeze