Ian Wright: Queens Arcade property manager responds to Mark Mitchell's meeting to address Auckland CBD crime

A business owner in Auckland's CBD says locals need to back the police.

Police Minister Mark Mitchell led a public meeting to address increased crime rates last night, which grew strained at points.

Queens Arcade property manager Ian Wright says crime has been on the rise across the nation - but he's confident things are headed in the right direction.

"The whole system's gone too soft, the justice system needs a good look at - and all of those things are not going to change overnight."

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Heather duple s Allen on the subject of crime. Tensions
were pretty high at a public meeting on inner city
crime in Auckland last night. Over one hundred residents and
business owners turned up to hear the police Minister Mark Mitchell,
and some of it got a little heated. Ian Wright
is the Queen's Arcade property manager and joins us, Now,
how Ian, I.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Am good evening, Heather.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Were you there last night?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
I was indeed that heat it No, I don't think
it was as heated. There was a couple of people
who were animated. But I think Police Minister Mark Mitchell
got a very good overview and a feel for the
environment that we've simply got a change and I think
it's some positive things happening, but there's a lot that's broken,

(00:42):
so it's going to take a little bit of time
to turn the tide.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Yeah, how long do you reckon?

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well, we're seeing things, We're seeing things change now. I
mean it's a wider problem than just Auckland, CBD. This
is across New Zealand. We're seeing it in cities and
towns right in the country. The shoplifting, assaults, intimidation, drug dealing,
ram raids, have crept in and quite frankly, the consequences
haven't been there. The whole system's gone to soft. The

(01:10):
justice system needs a good look at and all those
sort of things are not going to change overnight. But
the police getting back on the beat and back to
basics policing, which is what the police minister was talking about.
And I'm confident they're heading in the right direction and
certainly we'll be pushing them to take action.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, good stuff. Now, Mark mitchull reckons that the police
patrols are up sixty percent in about the last six
months or so. Have you seen more of them?

Speaker 2 (01:36):
We have, although some people debated whether it was sixty
percent or fifty eight percent of nothing. I think the
police have a very tough job to do. There's some
great people in there and they're dealing with very difficult
situations and we need to support them. The police directive is,
I believe, to get more police back on the beat

(01:58):
and we'll be watching out for them as we desperately
need them out there.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
So, now that we have got a few more of
these police patrols going on, have you seen a decrease
in chrome?

Speaker 2 (02:09):
We still get ongoing issues, but certainly, we've got very
good support from at the heart of the city led
by Vivbec and there's a city wide security team here
in Auckland that are there when we need support. So
these arecidibus defenders is what the police need to concentrate on.

(02:30):
I had a group of them in the here today
and we're talking to them about that very thing. So
I'm optimistic. We've got to make change. We can't sit back.
We've got to support the police and help them do
their job.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
The solution is the patrols. Isn't it more of the
coppers on the beat that will actually solve a lot
of the problems.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well, it's certainly going to help. I think there's probably
things that are deeper within the police systems with the
IT and just their whole policies and proceeds. Is that,
no doubt the government's looking at that could be streamlined
and make the police's job a lot easier. For example,
when they arrest someone, I know it takes an inordinate
and obscene amount of time for them to process that

(03:12):
person that takes them off the street. And I know
there's a lot of mental health issues that they're trying
to push over to another area. So I think it's
a matter of looking at the system and blaming the
system rather than the people that are doing the fine
job they do.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Absolutely fair point. Hey, Ian, thank you so much appreciated this.
Ian Wright, Queen's Arcade property Manager.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks they'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.