Help is on its way to ethnic business owners

Proactive police help is here for those business owners needing assistance with crime prevention initiatives in a language other than English.

Māori, Pacific and Ethnic Services (MPES) has produced new business crime prevention booklets in Arabic, Chinese, Hindi and Korean, with Punjabi available soon.

Police are working with ethnic communities throughout New Zealand to enhance understanding of safety and security issues and people’s knowledge about accessing police services says National Manager, MPES, Superintendent Wally Haumaha.

Wally says that the police ethnic strategy increases police capability to respond to the safety and security of ethnic communities.

Project managed by Kefeng Chu, Strategic Ethnic Advisor, the booklets have been translated to assist frontline police when working with people who own or run small business premises and speak in any of the five different languages.

The crime prevention booklets produced in four languages. Photo: Paul Eagle, PNHQ

Rationale for developing the resources came from the “Ethnic Perceptions of New Zealand Police” research and ethnic community forums indicating that small business related crime is a major concern within the various ethnic communities.

It was also based on the success of those districts that already had their own translated resources in place for frontline staff.

Inspector John Price, Policing Development Manager for Canterbury District, says, “As a result of the booklets and other related initiatives in Christchurch city, dairy robberies have reduced to just 17 in the past 12 months from 38 the previous year.”

Justin Zeng, Asian Liaison Officer in Counties-Manukau District also been using a resource he developed for Chinese and Korean-speaking shop owners. “Many have said the booklet provides a comprehensive overview of crime prevention and best of all, it’s in their language,” he says.

Support for publishing the booklet came from the Department of Labour’s Small Business Information Unit.