Christchurch merchant Yong Ren, who owns a number of cafes in the Bishopdale area, including Cocoa Black, has had a bad time recently.
Here's what happened: On March 11, when employees came to work at the Cocoa Black café in the morning, they were surprised to find that the café had been burglarized.
About $1,000 in cash was stolen from the café.
From the surveillance footage, it can be seen that at around 3 o'clock in the morning, a gangster in a white hoodie tried to smash the large glass window of the café to enter, but the glass was strong and only caused a small hole and crack.
Subsequently, the gangsters smashed two more small windows and thus unlocked the door.
Once inside, the gangsters ripped the cash register off the counter and fled the scene with the stolen goods.
A white station wagon outside the café is believed to be an escape tool for the gangsters, but unfortunately the surveillance did not capture the license plate number.
"No investigative leads"
Yong Ren handed over the surveillance footage to the police.
He suggested that the police ask the surrounding businesses for surveillance footage, hoping to find clues to the license plate number of the gangster's vehicle.
But to his confusion and disappointment, two weeks later, the police sent an email saying they could not continue their investigation of the case because there were "no investigative trails to follow up."
Even more frustrating. On the same night that the police email was received, Yong Ren's Cocoa Black café was burglarized again.
According to surveillance footage, he believed it was the same gangster.
This time, although there was no cash in the cash register, the gangsters ransacked the tip jar.
Yong Ren said that although the amount of money stolen was not large, the two burglaries caused serious property damage.
He also had to increase the security investment in the café, and the damage to the building could lead to an increase in rents in the future.
"I was very angry. The first time it happened, I thought it was inevitable that this kind of thing would happen. But when it happened again a second time, and the police remained indifferent, I was really frustrated. ”
"We, as taxpayers, are paying for the police, but they're doing nothing about it," he said. ”
To prevent more burglary, Yong Ren now requires employees to leave empty cash registers by windows and put a sign that reads "No cash in store" at the end of each day.
The police decide which cases not to handle
Another victim, Blair Hickling, questioned why the police could decide for themselves which cases deserved investigation.
Does the fact that they have this discretion mean that they have become "judges and juries"?
About six weeks ago, Hickling was burgled at a construction site in Christchurch where about 15 new plants were uprooted and stolen.
A construction site security camera captured a pickup truck with a clear license plate number.
However, after reporting the case to the police, he received an email stating that he was unable to investigate the case due to the large number of cases to be assigned at hand.
The email read: "My team currently has a large number of burglary and vehicle theft cases waiting to be staffed. I have to evaluate these cases and then determine if we have the capacity to investigate.
"At the moment, we are prioritising major property crime cases that have been committed for a long time. ”
Hickling said he was disappointed with the police's attitude, despite the low value of the stolen plants.
"How can we feel safe if they can decide for themselves which cases to investigate and which not to investigate?"
This "prioritization" of the police
It's a microcosm of what is happening in New Zealand right now
The "prioritization" criterion takes into account three factors: severity, available evidence, and potential leads.
Christchurch police said that due to the limited number of personnel, if a report does not meet the required standards, it may be put on hold pending further information.
According to the police crime data website, there were 1,073 burglaries and 3,774 burglaries in the Christchurch area between January and March this year. These figures include both residential and commercial establishments.
An alarming number of outstanding cases
The New Zealand police dropped investigations into a total of 572,037 reported cases last year, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of the total number of cases.
In 2023, the police received a total of 962,521 emergency calls and reports, an increase of 50% compared to 2019.
Of the cases reported last year, 179,957 were closed without any investigation.
Another 244,312 cases were abandoned after "reasonable" investigative leads were exhausted, meaning police did their best but failed to locate suspects.
The remaining 147,768 cases were abandoned at the discretion of the police, who chose not to investigate further, although there were still traces to follow.
The number of cases that voluntarily abandoned investigations increased the most, from 7.5% of the total number of cases in 2019 to 15% in 2023.
During this period, the Police Association has repeatedly expressed concerns about the lack of resources and the difficulty of retaining the police force.