Photo: Felix Walton
Recently released police data reveals that the number of serious victimisations at retail and commercial locations caused by acts intended to cause injury last year has remained roughly the same as those recorded in 2023.
Police data shows 4304 such occurrences nationwide in 2024 - almost identical to the 4305 serious victimisations logged the previous year.
Comparing quarterly figures, police logged 1154 serious victimisations in the last quarter of 2024. The same number of serious victimisations happened between October and December 2023.
December 2024 was the worst month on record in a decade, with 443 serious victimisations recorded. It is slightly above the 439 cases recorded in December 2023.
Data for serious victimisations at retail and commercial locations caused by acts intended to cause injury is available from July 2014. Police had recorded 187 cases that month.
Police said the data covered locations where the acts intended to cause injury leading to serious victimisations occurred, including retail premises, pharmacies, service stations, professional premises and manufacturing premises as well as banking, warehouse and storage facilities.
Moreover, while reported ram raid incidents appear to have declined, serious victimisations in some regions have increased.
The three police districts that make up the Auckland region - Counties Manukau (630 cases - the highest in the country), Auckland City (581 cases), and Waitemata - collectively logged 1625 serious victimisations cases last year. This was a bit more than the number 1611 recorded in 2023.
A similar trend was witnessed in Canterbury. The South Island police district saw 464 serious victimisation incidents in 2024, up from 397 the previous year.
Meanwhile, Wellington police district saw a decline to 457 in 2024 from a high of 486 serious victimisations in 2023.
The data on serious victimisations at retail and commercial locations caused by acts intended to cause injury comes after RNZ revealed last week that victimisation rates for violent offences have mostly stayed steady, contrary to government claims.
RNZ included robbery, blackmail and extortion, assault, sexual assault, and abduction and kidnapping, under the violent crimes category in the earlier report.
