A dairy owners group has been given an assurance from the Police Minister Ginny Andersen that she will meet with them every two weeks, as they deal with brazen crime.
Andersen told the Dairy and Business Owners group the government is doing everything it can to get on top of retail crime and made it clear the level of retail crime is unacceptable.
"This is not New Zealand that I know, it's not the New Zealand that we grew up with and I will continue working to get on top of this problem."
This comes just days after two people were hospitalised after an armed robbery in Auckland's Mount Roskill and less than a year since Janak Patel was fatally stabbed at the nearby Rose Cottage Superette.
Dairy and Business Owners group chair Sunny Kaushal said had the government listened to them, "we wouldn't be in such a mess as we are today".
The group sat down with the minister to voice their concerns. They made five recommendations, including creating a youth crime taskforce.
Andersen said the government was committed to tackling youth crime.
"There is no silver bullet to this problem and we will be working with youth offending, we'll be working with Oranga Tamariki and also with police to get whatever it takes to get on top of this."
Other suggestions were for AI to monitor CCTV feeds, to analyse and auto track suspects, changes to the Crimes Act and for parents to be liable to protect their child from criminal responsibility.
Last week's attack at Jyogti dairy took place despite the shop keeper activating the store's fog cannon.
When asked about fog cannons failing to deter offenders, Andersen said the focus should not be solely on security measures, but they were helpful.
"While we have had instances sadly where those fog cannons aren't working, there are many other instances where they are working."
Grafton Convenience Store had an alarm, panic button, gates and a fog cannon installed.
But Owner Raje Patel said that had not stopped attacks at their store.
"Just grab and runs a lot, we had a very bad issue where all our staff got beaten up and they never came back."
Patel was angry she could not do more to protect her staff and wanted to see more done to prevent youth offenders.
"I think justice needs to happen definitely, there's not enough justice, they can be 14 year olds, they get a slap on the hand and they will walk."
Kaushal said the meeting was constructive but what happened next would be the main thing.
"The success of the minister and the meeting will be, depending upon the results and the results we have clarified very clearly ... would mean zero ram raids, zero crime on the small businesses."
