What we’re hearing from businesses about safety in the city centre

10 August 2021

Over the past couple of months, we’ve heard from over 400 city centre businesses about their thoughts and concerns about safety, through a mix of survey responses and face to face conversations. Below, we’ve detailed some of the main themes as well as the work that’s underway with respect to safety.  

What we’ve heard

• Safety was either a ‘very big’ or ‘big’ problem according to three quarters of people who responded to the survey. Common issues raised were anti-social behaviour, substance abuse including alcohol and theft and vandalism.
• More than half of survey respondents said safety concerns impacted their business – including customers or staff having expressed concerns as well as businesses that had directly been impacted by theft. Some respondents had taken their own action in putting additional security measures in place, like security staff, increased general staff or keeping doors closed.
• Most survey respondents felt more could be done to support safety – the largest proportion would like to see increased police patrols or presence and a number suggested more security and/or CCTV cameras.
• Of the people we spoke to in person while visiting businesses, a number mentioned feeling unsafe generally, with the most common specific concerns including anti-social behaviour and night-time safety.
• Issues to do with trespass, theft and obstruction also came up in our in person conversations.
• We have also heard some concerns around transistional housing. 

How Heart of the City is working to support safety in the city centre

• Advocating for increased police presence and services to support issues like addiction and housing.
•  Safety programmes and advocacy areas including:
  • CityWatch - daily patrols with a focus on hotspot areas
  • StoreWatch - growing the number of businesses participating in the programme
  • Safety information - sharing with businesses and connecting businesses with Police, which includes offering advice about crime prevention
  • Liaison with police - monitoring crime statistics and raising concerns about trends with police, engaging at both a day to day operational level as well through formal forums.
• The city centre has extensive public space CCTV coverage. Businesses and property owners who have private CCTV cameras can proactively register their cameras with the NZ Police. See more information here.

If you would like to find out more about our approach to safety in the city centre, read more here or we are always happy to hear from you directly with any questions or feedback – find out how to contact us here.

The CityWatch on-street team on Queen Street.