Tania Tapsell: Rotorua mayor defends crackdown on illegal trolley use

Rotorua's mayor says cracking down on illegal trolley use is not an attack on homeless people.

Police launched Operation Trolley last week, after complaints homeless people with shopping carts were intimidating the public.

Officers arrested 13 people, gave out 19 trespass notices and returned 45 trolleys to stores.

Te Pati Māori has called it an attack on impoverished people, but mayor Tania Tapsell says that's ridiculous. 

"We are incredibly grateful for the police actioning this - and we've tried a lot as a council. By the way, that cost us $5000 per month when we were trying to fix it up."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A political war of words is erupted over a police
operation that targeted trolley theft. In thirteen arrests, nineteen trespassed,
forty five trolleys returned. Police have confirmed that some of
those arrested were homeless, and this is the point of contention.
The Maori Party says it's a direct attack by the
government on impoverished people. That MP Tom McClay says police

(00:22):
aren't targeting anyone, they're just focusing on combating theft and
antisocial behavior. That otto d ameha Is Tanya tapsil jioda
good afternoon.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Cure to Ryan.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Do you have a problem with police doing this?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Absolutely not. In fact, we are incredibly grateful for the
police action in this because honestly, we're a small town
so when these trolleys get left around, it looks really
messy and we've tried a lot as counsel. By the way,
cost us five thousand dollars a month when we were
trying to fix it up. Our businesses have been fantastic.
They're trying their best to achieve trolleys within forty eight hours.

(00:56):
But end of the day, these homeless are stealing somebody
else's property using it in an appropriate way and then
just jumping them in places. It's been a mess.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
You don't just not arrest someone because they're homeless.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Right, Oh, absolutely, And actually, to be fair, the police
alongside council, we've gone really hard on reducing homelessness. So
you know, the council has managed to reduce the motels
way up to eighty percent, so we don't have as
many homeless as we used to, by the way, But
actually when we do come across homeless, they're given support,

(01:28):
they're connected to services that they need. Even we have
City Safe Guardians that walk around and we've just sent
them out with nurses as well, because you know, some
of these homeless do need help and that help is
there if they want it. Some choose not to take it.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Why was it costing five thousand a month to pick.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Up the trolleys because there was a lot, so up
to two hundred and sixty on an average month. But
what the problem was is we were having to employee start
well direct, redirect stuff from the core business they should
be doing to actually take their trucks pick up these trolleys,
dropped them off to the right supermarkets or kmarts, and

(02:04):
it was taking a lot of time. You add that up,
that's five thousand dollars a month that we do not
want to keep spending.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
What do you think of to Party Mardy who said
that this is an attack by the government on poor.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
People, absolutely ridiculous, to be honest, and that's really unfair
on this government who has prioritized reducing crime. And if
you do the crime, then you should be caught and
you should have some consequences. And I agree with that
because in also we got sick of having these social
issues that came from homelessness. We are very lucky to

(02:37):
live in a country where there is support available, either
financial or through emergency housing. You do not have to
be homeless, but if you choose to steal other people's
property act in intimidating ways. Now, remember it did say
in the articles it was made public that some of
these people being arrested already had other issues for arrests
such as trespass, violent offenses, the breaching bail conditions. Some

(03:03):
of these people are not helping us, but they're not
helping themselves either.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Will see decisions Tanya taps or Amir, thanks for your time.
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