Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

Having witnessed a supermarket theft the other day, as we all probably have by now, I was not surprised to see that supermarket crime ‘has surged’.   In just Foodstuffs North Island stores, it's reported there are ‘more than a thousand incidents a month.’ And the thefts are brazen. There was one video of a man ‘armed with a screwdriver stealing nine legs of lamb’. Foodstuffs say that in more than a third of these crimes, it’s repeat offenders.    So it’s not surprising they’re taking matters into their own hands and 'investing 45 million in security measures.’ They’ve had a ‘jump of more than 300 percent in assaults and thefts over the past six years'. And that's just physical assaults and thefts. In terms of security incidents in general, they're up more than 800 percent, reportedly.   I mean that's untenable as a business to have to put up with that. And so unfair on staff. They shouldn’t have to deal with the sort of crap they're now dealing with. 'Knives were a common weapon to be pulled on staff, and eve