Police meeting planned in Newmarket to address concerns following Friday night ram raid at Partridge Jewellers

A still taken from a security camera shows the ram raiders after they broke into a Newmarket jewellery store on Friday evening.

A police coffee meeting is being planned in Newmarket on Wednesday to discuss community safety concerns. This follows a ram raid at Partridge Jewellers in Westfield Mall last Friday.

The session will be led by the Auckland Central East police as well as the local community patrol team.

In a Facebook post, police said the team would be there “to connect, chat and listen to any concerns you might have”.

Newmarket Business Association chief executive Mark Knoff-Thomas would not comment on the ram raid but said the group was helping police with investigations.

He said the meeting with the police had been arranged earlier to give members of the public a chance to meet police and not because of the ram raid.

Employees at Partridge Jewellers had to flee into a locked back room after thieves ram-raided the shop, smashing cabinets and stealing expensive pieces.

Police said the incident took place at about 8.55pm on Friday night as staff were closing the shop.

This morning, a police spokesman told the Herald inquiries are ongoing into the matter.

Newmarket Business Association chief executive Mark Knoff-Thomas

The incident is the latest in a spate of ram raids across the city with armed criminals regularly targeting high-end jewellery stores as well as vape stores and petrol stations in smash-and-grab-style robberies.

“Suffice to say all of our resources are available to the police for their investigations,” Knoff-Thomas said.

“We have invested heavily in security for Newmarket in terms of the latest technology including CCTV, body cams, software solutions like Vgrid and Auror, plus a team of top-tier security officers.”

Last year, business owners in Newmarket invested more than $500,000 in security including the installation of a network of cameras across the precinct and setting up a communications centre in the Newmarket police station.

This gave members, including Partridge Jewellers, a direct number they could use to phone the centre and radio one of the precinct’s mobile patrol guards.

A security guard outside Partridge Jewellers in the aftermath of the ram raid.

Staff were closing the store after the Friday late night shopping at the mall when a stolen Toyota Aqua reversed into the shop, Detective Sergeant Joseph Niupopo said.

“The employees locked themselves in a back room while six offenders, whose faces were covered, began breaking cabinets and taking jewellery.

“Thankfully, nobody was injured.”

The criminals used hammers and tyre irons to smash the cabinets before driving off with a “large quantity of high-end pieces of jewellery”.

Police located the Toyota abandoned a short distance away, with some of the stolen goods still inside.

“This was a distressing incident for the store staff, and we are providing them with support as we work to locate the offenders,” he said.

“The employees responded bravely and made the right decision to put their own safety first.”

Police ask anyone with information to contact them via 105, by phone or online at 105.police.govt.nz, using Update my report and referencing the file number 240412/0735.

Information can also be provided anonymously through Crime Stoppers by calling 0800 555 111.