Former Police Minister Chris Hipkins publicly criticised Police for being “too slow” to roll out the retail crime prevention fund despite repeated warnings that the process would take months to get up to speed, National’s Police spokesperson Mark Mitchell says.

Announced in May 2022, the $6 million fund was meant to protect small businesses as ram-raids soared by 500 per cent.

“It is clear the Government made a panicked decision by announcing the $6 million fund in response to the tsunami of retail offending without knowing whether Police could do what was being asked,” Mr Mitchell says.

“Police were hung out to dry by Hipkins when he was Police Minister. He blamed Police for the slow rollout despite being warned soon after the announcement that it would take more than six months from procurement to construction beginning.

“Documents released to the National Party show that not only did Police warn the procurement process could take months, but it would then take months before bollards could be installed.

“Police also warned the tender process would take at least 10 weeks.

“Despite promising police resources were being dedicated to helping businesses affected by ram-raids, only one staff member was specifically tasked with working out which businesses were eligible as victims of ram-raids.

“Police then had to divert resources from the home burglaries unit to assist.

“Knowing all of this, Chris Hipkins still threw Police under the bus and said that they were “too slow” to roll out the support.

“Business owners who were victims of ram-raids were left to fend for themselves because of the Labour Government’s inability to deliver anything and their soft-on-crime approach.

“It is clear that MBIE was better equipped to handle the fund, which would have left more Police resources available for fighting crime.

“The Labour Government was caught short on ram raids and their announcement was nothing more than knee-jerk window dressing.”

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