Kate Hawkesby: When are we going to snap out of the ideology that crime will solve itself?

It's depressing the amount of crime we’re seeing these days isn't it? Racist attacks, brazen ram raids, people getting shot or stabbed or beaten up, it’s actually disgusting and not representative of who we are, collectively, as New Zealanders. And there's still a lack of action on this low-rent crowd of trouble makers. I see retailers are now so stressed about lack of action on burglaries and repeat raids that they’re suffering ‘very high levels of anxiety’, according to one Business Association. And I think it’s a twofold problem. On the one hand, raids and burglaries are still occurring all too often, but also, it’s more and more becoming the victims’ problem. The targets of these raids and burglaries are the ones suffering. They’re the ones having to bolster security, spend excess amounts of money, retrain or counsel staff, and spend sleepless nights worrying about security. How is that fair? How is it possible that hard working, decent retailers are left anxious, out of pocket and scared, while thieves brazenly run amok? How are the thieves allowed to carry on with their despicable raids, while retailers lie awake at night filled with anxiety? There’s something very wrong with this picture, but also very familiar. It has parallels with the motorists and commuters who were trying to make their way along main highways in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch this past weekend, only to find Waka Kotahi had shut the roads so protestors could march along them. It's the gang funeral convoys all over again. That’s the other problem with this stuff; it’s all too familiar these days. So the retailers are being punished the same way commuters were. When did we get so scared in this country to take action against law breakers? When did we start pandering to the lowest common denominator? When did we start making the gripes of the minority a problem for the majority? When did police decide to just stop reacting and acting? And I don’t mean frontline police, who as we know are stretched, exhausted and over it, hamstrung by bureaucracy and ideology. I mean at the top. At what point does the Government, Police Minister and Police Commissioner snap out of the ideology of just hoping criminals and law breakers find a better way and instead look like they might actually want to do something tangible about it?   Because I’m not seeing it. The retailers aren’t seeing it. All we’re seeing is the denigration of a country into a free for all for causes, protests and crime. The word “brazen” is bandied around a lot because they are brazen. They’ve been emboldened by a lack of any consequences. They know they have the upper hand. They know no one will stop them, far less charge them. And even if they do get charged, what will happen? And so the cycle repeats. There's got to be a line drawn in the sand at some point. If at least for the anxious retailers, losing sleep and money, stressed about this. It just doesn't seem fair.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.