Leah McKerrow: Northland Chamber of Commerce CEO encourages retailers to contact police over shoplifting

A business spokesperson is encouraging Northland retailers to keep contacting police over smaller crimes. 

The Northland Chamber of Commerce says business owners across the region aren't calling in shoplifting because they don't think police will turn up. 

But CEO Leah McKerrow explained that even if officers can't respond - the data still goes into the system. 

"And while each incidence in its own right feels small, collectively we're starting to get a pattern."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ever, duplicy Ellen either nobody in the West is prepared
to put soldiers into Ukraine. They spout that Ukraine is important,
but their populations won't support deployment of their armies in Ukraine.
Go figure. I mean, that's the reality of the situation,
isn't it? Nineteen past five? Now it turns out, anecdotally,
at least Northern retailers are not reporting shoplifting to cops.
The revelation cropped up over a series of meetings with

(00:21):
small business owners around the region in the past week.
Leah macerro is North Chambers chief executive and with us
Hileann Kira, how are you? I'm well, thank you. Was
it a lot of these retailers saying it or just
a few?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
There already seemed to be a very common theme that
people felt there was no point for them to report
to the crime because they didn't get any response back.
So that seemed to be quite common amongst all of
the Northland areas that we visited.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
And so why are they doing it? Is it because
they don't believe the police are interested and police just
don't turn up.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Well, I think it's not so much the fact that
the police are not interested. I think that definitely are.
It all comes down to resourcing, of course, and whether
the police can in a timely manner respond to the
to the retailer's request their or their report that there
has been shoplifting. But most often I think the retailers said, look,

(01:18):
you know, if it was a small crime of somebody
who was just picking something up and it wasn't a
high value, they felt that the police wouldn't respond and
therefore wouldn't be interested. And that's actually incorrect because while
they may not be able to respond quickly or respond
in person, the fact is that the data goes into

(01:38):
the system, and when the data is in the system,
we can see the patterns of behavior. So I think
that's probably what's driving the I guess the reticence.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
But so what you're saytail is what you're saying is
leet don't. You're not saying report it because the police
are going to come and solve your shoplifting. You're saying
report it because once they get a whole bunch of intelligence,
they may solve other shoplifting. We'll take a look in
the mix.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
That's right, and it's the patterns of behavior that they
need to look at and while each incidence in its
own right feels small, collectively we get it starting to
get a pattern and you know, as the police are explaining,
sometimes these are fairly sophisticated people stealing and it's not
just the one off. But without that information they can't

(02:25):
actually see that.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Appreciate it, Hayley, and thanks so much. Look after yourself.
Leah mccarro, Chief executive of North Chamber. For more from
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