Auckland, August 17, 2016
Supplied Content
Sergeant Gurpreet Arora
On Tuesday, July 26, 2016 at 4 pm, a man, armed with a weapon, entered a dairy in Papatoetoe and demanded money and cigarettes.
The victim – the storekeeper, complied. He was not injured.
The man ran away. Police are following strong lines of inquiry and are confident of apprehending the offender.
At about 635 pm on Friday 22 July, a man wearing dark clothing entered a dairy in Mangere. The owner was sitting in the rear room and heard the door buzzer sound and noticing that the male on CCTV cameras appeared suspicious, pushed a panic button that set an alarm. The man immediately left the premises. As a result, the victim was safe and unharmed.
Police are investigating the matter.
Operation Dukan
Counties Manukau Police visited 361 dairies liquor stores between May and July 2016, spending more than 300 hours in providing quality and effective engagement with retailers.
They educated 224 retailers advised them of CPTED (Crime Prevention through Environmental Design).
The retailers were educated on the (1) Importance of Neighbourhood Support i.e. the importance of knowing your neighbours and looking out and supporting each other (2) Trespass law and encouraged to develop an incident report book outlining all the incidents by the person in charge of the store (3) Advised of Safety plan with practical examples including calling the Police and ways of communicating with the Police Communication Centre and (4) Advised to have confident eye contact and positive body language with the customers.
Positive feedback
The Police have received a number of positive feedback emails from retailers appreciating the liaison provided.
We have compiled a District Ethnic Retail Database for future reference.
Some safety tips
Jewellery: Ensure that your jewellery is stored in a safe place.
CrimeStoppers: If you receive any information about suspects of burglary or any other crime that has previously been committed in your neighbourhood or elsewhere and you are not comfortable approaching the Police, you can anonymously report it to the CrimeStoppers on 0800-555111 or fill out a form at www.crimestoppers-nz.org
Sergeant Gurpreet Arora is District Ethnic Services Coordinator at Counties Manukau Police
