Open gang warfare and brazen shootings in Auckland saw recorded gun crimes spike during a single month in the Super City with an average of more than three per day. Video / NZ Herald
A prominent jewellery chain has been hit again in a smash-and-grab at a northwest Auckland mall.
Robbers reportedly walked into the Michael Hill store at the Westgate Mall and smashed up cabinets and took off with items.
The stolen getaway car was later found in Massey and police are investigating.
Several other jewellery stores have been robbed in recent weeks as brazen smash-and- grabs and ram raids have become a regular blight on the retail landscape.
Newmarket's upmarket retail precinct is not immune, having also been hit more than once, said its business association boss Mark Knoff Thomas.
"It is getting a bit old and the situation hasn't got any better at all. It seems to be we need to rethink how we approach it and how we respond because things aren't getting any better quickly at all."
The increase in aggressive robberies has been difficult on both frontline staff and owners, Thomas said.
Robbers reportedly walked into the Michael Hill store at the Westgate Mall and smashed up cabinets and took off with items. Photo / Supplied
"There's been a big uptick in violence against retail staff in the last 10 years."
"The levels of anxiety are very high" at high-end and luxury stores, he said, where crowbars have been used to smash in windows, and other attacks.
Retailers are doing what they can to improve security, including adding hard-to-break laminated glass, fog cannons, bollards outside their stores, hiring more guards or updating camera systems.
"I think everyone's taking a look at security all in all as what they can do right here and now."
Stores also are looking at the design of the stores, how they can showcase merchandise better and "take away temptation" from window displays.
"After the last two years of the ropiest trade we've had, it's just another thing for small business owners to contend with. It just causes a lot of unnecessary stress."
When a shop is ram-raided, the costs can be immense, Thomas said.
"We're talking thousands and thousands of dollars to get glass replaced, we're talking increases in excess for insurance policy and that can go up by tens of thousands of dollars depending on where they are."
Stores are sharing information among themselves to help identify repeat offenders, he said.
"There is a tonne of footage going around being shared amongst precincts.
"I think technology is really catching up with criminals. It's fair to say that the Auckland Police Eagle helicopter is really paying its way at the moment, it's working overtime."
