South Auckland is in the news again and as per usual it is for some of it's more negative aspects.

People are complaining that there are too many liquor outlets, making alcohol too easily available in the community, giving rise and adding to the social and criminal issues of the area.

Per capita Central Auckland has the highest number of liquor outlets, so what's going on in South Auckland that isn't going on in Central Auckland?

What do you think needs to change for things to get better?

And does South Auckland really deserve the negative image that our news media gives it?

From what I've seen on the news in response to the latest events in South Aucks, part of the problem that the liquor outlets appear to be clustered in close proximity. I remember hearing that in some parts the liquor shops out number the schools!

Personally, I'd like to see the price of alcohol go up and the alcohol percentage be reduced. Ie- 13% bottle of wine go down to 9%, etc. But I think these actions alone won't be greatly effective.

I know myself I have been unable to buy alcohol when I've wanted to bc I don't have an alcohol store near my home and the shops that were a bit of a drive away weren't open at that hour anyway. When the government starts to implement a set of these kinds of strategies to address different areas, then I think we will start seeing some positive results.

In terms of the bad press that South Auck is receiving. Its an election year and not to discount the seriousness of the situations that have unfolded recently, I feel as though the media need something to bait the politians with.

From the weekend Herald 21/06/08

Liquor outlets:

Manukau City - 502 outlets
Population 328,968
1 per 655 people

Papakura - 84 outlets
Pop. 45,600
1 per 542 people

Auckland City - 2079 outlets
Pop. 401,500
1 per 193 people

Waitakere - 277 outlets
Pop. 190,000
1 per 685 people

North Shore - 468 outlets
Pop. 220,300
1 per 470 people

I think the crime rate is more prevalent in south auckland due to the society and economy, not the number of alcohol stores. South Auckland is a cheaper place to live than Central Auckland, which leads to lower income families living there. And since some people can't afford, or simply don't want to spend money on alcohol and cigarettes, then this in turn leads to an increase in crime. I would say money is the mitigating factor that induces crime. Whether it be the fact that people can not afford what they steal, or that they can make a profit from what they steal.

Excellent take on it M_T. Money is the motivator for so much that is not good for us out there. And I think you are so right those on the make get $ from those on the take and so it goes on. What's the answer??

The relationship between crime and poverty is certainly worth attention but so is having a good look at which people or groups are actually behaving criminally. Rather than simply smearing every low income family as the source of all criminality.

One thing that I have learnt about Sth Auckland is that most of the high profile crime is committed by people, families or gangs already known to the police.

The Bottle shop shooting is an example of this, the only reason that charges were laid so quickly was that the accused were well known and easily identifiable to the police.

Secondly the media continually paints Sth Auckland in the negative when it comes to crime, the bottle shop shooting is a good example of this I think, as only a few weeks before a similar incident occurred at a Three-Kings bottle shop in central Auckland. The bottle shop owners face and neck was bludgeoned with a broken bottle during a robbery and is lucky to have escaped fatal injury.
That story received very little attention from the media, it made the news briefly and was forgotten.
There was no "in depth look into the area", no interviews with locals to source their opinion on the event or the prevalence of bottle stores in the area - which happens to be 4 or 5 within 2 square kilometres. (sigh)

If you take the time to look at police statistics www.police.govt.nz/service/statistics you will see that while there are differences between Auckland City and Manukau the gap is relatively small.

Comparably in 2007 - Auckland City (pop. 415000) had 57,000 reported crimes; Counties-Manukau (pop. 483000) had 51,000.