A ram raid relief fund, welcomed as an effective quick fix for battling dairy owners, has paid out no money in more than three months.
Former police minister Poto Williams unveiled the Small Retailer Crime Prevention Fund to community leaders, dairy owners and their families back in May.
The government puts it down to the way funding is distributed. In the meantime, very few shop owners have seen the benefits of the announced security boost.
Ram raids have more than doubled recently. Officers attended 436 in 2021, up from 191 in 2020.
Police originally did not respond to Checkpoint's request asking how much of the $6 million fund had been spent, saying five stores had received upgrades.
But in an Official Information Act response, received on Thursday, prevention, innovation and change director Mere Wilson Tuala-Fata said: "No money has been paid out of this fund yet".
In fact, police are still working to finalise the design and delivery of the programme, which was announced in May as an urgent response to the rise in burglaries.
In a statement, the police minister's office said: "Nothing has been spent directly from the Proceeds of Crime fund. It is normal practice for an agency to draw on its own budget until the regular transfers of funding during Baseline Funding Updates (normally in October and March).
"Any police expenditure made in the interim will then be reimbursed from the transferred funding."
Auckland dairy owners told Checkpoint they were livid.
Kalpesh Patel's Parnell store has just been repaired after a ram raid late last year.
"It is frustrating, but I think the way they are doing it is wrong as well," he said.
Instead of officers trying to make their way around individual businesses, there should be an application process, Patel said.
"They probably don't have time to see those retailers anyway."
Store owners have been holding off installing, and paying, for protection because the $6m fund had been pledged.
"They think: 'oh, it's government help, why should we spend money?'" Kalpesh Patel told Checkpoint.
"People are expecting ... in the meantime, they are vulnerable because they still don't have that protection."
Another owner, Nimseh Patel, said he was waiting for the installation of an improved fog cannon, which was being installed at a discounted rate.
However, he was still paying $250 out of his own pocket. He understood police would fund the rest.
Despite this, Patel was sympathetic to officers on the ground, saying his local sergeant was "amazing".
But business, in the face of Covid-19 and crime, remained tough. Patel said he had not drawn any fees from his business this year.
Meanwhile, police leadership earlier this week told Checkpoint more help was on the way.
Acting assistant commissioner Dave Lynch told Checkpoint additional staff would be tasked to the retail crime prevention programme over the coming weeks to assist in approving upgrades for certain businesses.
It came after at least another half a dozen businesses were targeted overnight Monday.
