NZ Police Commissioner Richard Chambers says a directive sent to staff about not investigating retail crime below certain thresholds was “confusing and unhelpful”. 

He has asked for a reminder to be issued to all district commanders that they should continue to catch offenders wherever possible, regardless of the memo’s thresholds. 

RNZ revealed last week a directive was recently sent to staff relating to the police’s File Management Centre (FMC) titled “Assignment Changes – Theft and Fraud”. 

The directive said that from March 26, the FMC was applying “nationally standardised value thresholds” when assessing theft and fraud files. The value thresholds are: general theft $200, petrol drive-off $150, shoplifting $500, fraud (paywave, online, scam etc) $1000, and all other fraud $500. 

“When assessing files with these offences, you will apply the relevant value threshold and file any file under that threshold regardless of any lines of enquiry or IFA score.” 

The police instructions relating to Case Management define an IFA score as “a numeric value derived from a series of weighted factors which gives an indication of the solvability of the case, based on the presence or absence of certain key lines of inquiry”. 

Chambers said in a statement to RNZ that he wanted to reassure the retail community and the public that retail crime is one of his top priorities. 

Chambers said the wrong message had been sent to the retail community and the public about the police approach as a result of confusion about the memo, which referred to thresholds for retail crime. 

“I have made retail crime one of the priorities for the police executive and that means increasing the focus on it. The memo has been confusing and unhelpful and does not meet my expectations on retail crime or the expectations of the retail community.” 

He had asked for a reminder to be issued to all district commanders that they should continue to catch offenders wherever possible, regardless of the memo’s thresholds. 

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“It is my expectation police continue to work hard to catch offenders wherever possible. Our role is to enforce the law. If we were to take our focus off that, we are giving license to offenders to commit crime. That will not happen. 

“That is important for police, for the retail community and for trust and confidence with the wider public.” 

“Retail crime is increasing and we are working closely with the retail community to address it. I want them to have confidence that we will continue to do so.” 

He said there were examples of successful approaches to retail crime, such as in Tauranga and Gisborne, where a combination of dedicated teams, highly visible beat police and close work with the retail community had paid dividends. 

Victims and resolutions executive director service Rachael Bambery said district commanders were being reminded today that districts continued to have discretion to investigate crimes, taking into account the context and available resources. 

“Early case closure is not final as new information and patterns often allow police to revisit cases, for example where a small number of offenders can be linked to multiple offences.” 

‘We only have so much resource’ 

The directive, sparked confusion about the reality of the situation, with police conceding on Friday that while the wording of the directive “could have been clearer” police would continue to investigate reports if there are avenues of inquiry to explore. 

However, speaking to Checkpoint on Monday, director of service Superintendent Blair MacDonald admitted the directive was valid. 

“We only have so much resource, so we have to prioritise the work that comes in through the door and that’s a challenge. Each district has to make a choice.” 

MacDonald said while police might not be able to attend incidents in person, reports of crimes – including car registrations, photos and CCTV footage – may help to solve bigger crimes down the track, and all reports would be “filed” or “parked” for the future. 

“We continue to encourage everyone to report offending to us, because even if we can’t get to it today, you just don’t know how important that might be further on down the track.” 

He said the financial thresholds helped staff “triage” crime and police resources. 

“We’d love to be able to get to everything, but unfortunately that’s just not the world we all live in.” 

MacDonald said it was mainly business as usual for police. 

“We’ve tweaked the thresholds to make my staff slightly more efficient as they’re assigning cases coming through.” 

‘Unacceptable’ 

Motor Trade Association (MTA) head of advocacy James McDowall said in a statement to RNZ on Tuesday that service stations were the “most preyed on retailers in the country”. 

“They provide an essential service and deserve the full protection and support of NZ Police and Government. This directive, if enacted, would seriously erode faith in both.” 

McDowall said while it was “understandable” that police prioritise offending, to ignore that would amount to thousands of crimes every year. 

“Last year, there was almost 30,000 instances of theft from service stations, according to NZ Police’s own data. 

“Many of those would be under the reported threshold – you can fill up most cars for under $150 – and therefore not investigated. 

“Frankly, there is already widespread belief amongst service stations that police do not take fuel theft seriously, and this only reinforces that view.” 

The MTA respected that there should be a nationwide approach to retail crime, he said. 

“But the standard approach should be that every theft hurts a hard-working business, operating on slim margins,” he said. 

“We trust we can work with the minister and police to find a way forward, and keep service stations safe from retail crime.” 

Retail crime group chair Sunny Kaushal earlier told RNZ retailers would be “deeply concerned” by the directive. 

“We are seeking urgent clarification from both the police minister and police commissioner. If the directive implies there is a set threshold under which offending is deprioritised, then that is deeply concerning.” 

Kaushal, who is the former chair of the Dairy and Business Owners Group, said similar approaches had “disastrous consequences” overseas including in the US and UK. 

“Similar policies have emboldened gangs of shoplifters who exploit the system to make illegal gains without fear of consequences. 

“I have always advocated for a zero-tolerance approach to retail crime. The best deterrent is when offenders know they will be caught and face real consequences. A soft approach, or policies that effectively give a free pass for low-level offending, will only incentivise more crime.” 

He said he was reaching out to police leadership, including “to get clarity and ensure there is no misinterpretation of their operational stance”. 

“If such limits exist, we will be strongly advocating for their immediate removal.” 

Huge cost of retail crime 

Retail NZ advocacy manager Ann-Marie Johnson told RNZ on Monday the organisation was seeking an “urgent meeting” with Police Minister Mark Mitchell to discuss the directive further “and to understand if anything has changed in the police’s approach to retail crime”. 

Johnson said Retail NZ recently published a report which identified that 99% of respondents, representing more than 1500 stores across New Zealand and online, experienced some form of retail crime or anti-social behaviour. There were more than 140,000 incidents through 2023-24. 

“The incidents ranged from credit card fraud and shoplifting through to threatening behaviour, criminal damage and physical assault.” 

Johnson said about 40% of the retail crimes were not reported to police. 

“There were a range of reasons why respondents did not report incidents to police, such as low value items not being worth the effort; the retailer discovered the offence too late or dealt with it directly. Some also raised concerns that police would not do anything.” 

She said the cost of retail crime was about $2.6 billion a year in New Zealand. 

“This cost flows through from retailers to customers to the New Zealand economy, and so is a major brake on the retail sector’s contribution to economic growth. 

“Every day, retailers are dealing with threatening, violent or simply unpleasant customers, who are trying to steal or damage their property. Almost every retail worker has been affected by crime and aggression which is traumatic for those directly involved and their colleagues. This is a serious health and safety issue for retail employers.” 

Mitchell said he was “always available and happy to meet with Retail NZ”. 

“They are an important partner in the outstanding efforts being put in by all stakeholders including police in dealing with all forms for retail crime. Police will obviously speak to operational matters.” 

– Sam Sherwood, RNZ