An Auckland business owner has been given a new perspective on crime after she met with one of the criminals who targeted her shop.
Stirling Sports Pukekohe owner Maree Trow told AM her shop has been ram-raided four times since December last year.
She also owns a store in Thames, which has been hit twice, with Trow estimating the damage and security upgrades for both stores totals around $100,000 - which includes new CCTV cameras and $1000 reinforced panels of glass.
She has also turned to artificial intelligence (AI) to try and deter thieves.
The new technology system called 'Watchful' uses AI to identify potential threats. It then uses an array of lights, sirens and cameras to make the criminal flee.
Trow's Stirling Sports store is the first retail business to use Watchful after it had been successful at construction sites.
She told AM co-host Ryan Bridge the damage caused by thieves is expensive and traumatic.
"I was always waking up 3am and lying there and it's like is the phone going to go, is the phone going to go and the logical side of your brain goes, there's nothing you can do about it, but the emotional side keeps you awake," she told AM.
"Then you go back to sleep and at 4am I usually go, 'Oh, it's okay now we haven't had a call we’ll be fine."
Trow told AM she had the chance recently to meet with one of the criminals who targeted her business and said it was eye-opening.
"I went up to meet him, he had been in the youth system, he had been in the facility out in south Auckland for six months. I went in with a preconceived idea, as you do being a victim so many times, this young man was amazing and his story is heartbreaking," she said.
"I haven't heard since, but I'm hoping he's made it into normal society and is making his way in life but I have more of an understanding as to why this comes about."
She said meeting the criminal was an "interesting exercise" and gave her a "totally different perspective" on crime.
Watchful founder Joshua Parsons, who was appearing alongside Trow on AM, said the technology had been successful on construction sites and is now being used for retail stores.
"We took the technology from our existing business. We've got 700 cameras we monitor across New Zealand and about 300 crimes we've had reported to police today. Of those 80 percent of people that come on to one of our sites flee," he said.
"We've taken that product and the technology that exists in that platform and moved into the retail sector and Maree is the first."
He said the system is designed to "startle" criminals, so they flee from the scene.
While many people might think the AI system would be expensive, Parsons said since they use existing networks it doesn't cost as much as people might think.
"The beauty of the product is we can use existing security networks. So with Maree's product, I don't know when she put it [CCTV] in, but from what we've discussed, it was some years ago now, so we've come in on the back of that existing CCTV network and installed our product," he said.
"So the outlay isn't as significant as purchasing a brand-new right security."
Watch the full interview with Maree Trow and Joshua Parsons in the video above.
