Newshub can reveal the Government isn't committing to giving any new money to the fog cannon subsidy scheme.
The Government is going to extend it past its current June cut-off but it will have to rely on funding already allocated to it from the past financial year. After that runs dry the minister will reassess.
Retailers continue to face terrifying crime. The moment masked offenders caused chaos in a Manurewa jewellers was caught on CCTV last month.
"That is not the New Zealand we like to live in," said Sunny Kaushal, chair of the Dairy & Business Owners Group.
A fog cannon eventually went off in the Manurewa store - whose owners are among more than 3000 retailers supported by the fog cannon subsidy funded by the previous Government.
Nearly 1000 stores have also accessed the retail crime prevention programme to install protective equipment like bollards.
"It gives them confidence that they have some tools to keep them safe if something occurs," said Carolyn Young of Retail NZ.
But the programmes were only funded to the end of June.
"The crime is still hurting. It is hurting the retailers. It is hurting the businesses. It is hurting the communities," said Kaushal.
A February briefing to Police Minister Mark Mitchell, obtained by Newshub, reveals one option police gave him was to end the programmes early and save the money that hadn't yet been spent.
But the Police Minister decided on another option.
"I have already decided we will continue those schemes. There is still money in there so they will continue on as they have been," Mitchell said.
Demand for the programmes has decreased. For example, in May 2023, 170 applications for fog cannon subsidies were being approved a week. It's now dropped down to 30 a week.
Earlier this month, the minister told the House retail crime was a huge focus for the Government.
"We want to invest into that more because there's a huge human cost to this," said Mitchell.
Now, he won't say if the programmes will get any new money after their current funding dries up.
"Once we have used the initial funds, there is a decline in uptake on that, so I will take advice and make a decision then," Mitchell said.
But Labour's police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said the minister "needs to explain to retail owners why he has backed down from that commitment".
If there's no top up, police predicted in February that funding for the retail crime prevention programme would run out in October, while the fog cannon money would last until March.
