Saed Rajput sleeps each night with an iPad next to his bed playing security camera footage from outside his store, the Ōmokoroa Minimart and Takeaways.
In the year since he and his wife Joana bought the business, it has been burgled twice before being ram raided in April, leaving the couple emotionally and financially scarred.
"I have trauma from that. I wake up in the middle of the night to check the cameras that my shop is still fine," Rajput said.
Many business owners can share his pain, with a new police report showing the Bay of Plenty had the second-highest number of ram raids in New Zealand in the year to October. The 19 per cent share was second only to Waikato's 27 per cent.
Nationally, rates more than doubled and most offenders – 88 per cent – were aged under 20.
An academic says the crime epitomises "high-octane behaviour" glamourised through footage on social media, and creating a "social contagion" effect that draws youth in.
In the regions where offending rates were highest, ram raids were being done for "fun and notoriety", police say.
A wider police data set covering the past five years showed that while the problem was not new, it had picked up recently. In the year to June, there were 436 ram raids nationwide, more than double the 191 of the year before and five times the 84 in the year to June 2018.
Youth involvement was also up, with 14-17-year-olds responsible for just under 60 per cent in 2018 rising to just over 70 per cent this year.
In the Ōmokoroa minimart raid, it has been reported one of the thieves appeared to video the action.
Rajput said the offenders backed a stolen Mazda Demio through the glass door to gain access. They did $8000-$10,000 worth of damage to the store to get away with three energy drinks and a box of 28 lighters.
"They didn't get anything, but the damage is so much. They put me in debt. I am still paying my debt,'' he told the Bay of Plenty Times.
"It's really hard being a business owner, and thinking you have money - and then suddenly one night somebody comes and your savings are already gone."
Rajput, who works for 12 hours seven days a week, said the "love and support" following the ram raid was overwhelming. Customers helped clean up and fundraise.
"It's good to know someone is looking out for you. I am lucky to be in this community."
The couple wanted to install bollards out front to prevent another ram raid but their request to Western Bay of Plenty District Council was declined.
The council said it considered applications where there have been repeated ram raids, and that widespread bollard installations could hurt the district's personality.
Two other Bay of Plenty stores recently ram raided told the Bay of Plenty Times they experienced extensive damage for very little or nothing stolen.
One owner said it was "devastating".
"You feel like a bit of a sitting duck - we've got bollards that [are] being manufactured at the moment. As soon as we get the new frontage in, we're going to install the bollards and hopefully, that will be a bit more of a deterrent in the future," she said.
Oranga Tamariki's director of youth justice system development, Ben Hannifin, said the agency noticed a spike in ram raids through February, March and April.
One contributing factor behind the spike earlier this year was the notoriety young people were seeking through social media, he said.
"The live-streaming and one-upmanship we saw out of that behaviour became a bit of a self-fulfilling thing - especially when it became a hot media topic."
Hannifin said ram raids were high risk, in that the perpetrators would likely be caught, for very little monetary gain.
The social impact of Covid-19 might have contributed to the rise.
"The dislocation from communities, the isolation from schools, the stress on the family, the compounding employment stress and cost of living had an impact on families."
Multi-agency community response in South Auckland - Kotahi Te Whakaaro - had supported more than 40 youth involved in ram raids over the past month.
He said the needs had been consistent across the board - with all young people experiencing family harm, being disconnected from education, and having siblings caught up with youth offending and violence.
Reconnecting youth with their community and providing welfare to families was crucial but support needed to be tailored to individuals.
It was about providing "positive pathways" for young people - so they were "getting that notoriety hit, endorphin response in a pro-social way".
University of Waikato's Dr Lisa Tompson, a senior lecturer in security and crime science, said the spike in youth offending was "certainly of concern".
She said it appeared police were targeting first-time offenders who were easier to catch than those more experienced. However, she said this was a "golden opportunity" to intervene early and disincentivise from carrying down a criminal pathway.
She said the increase in youth involvement in ram raids was due to multiple factors but "social contagion" had been a key factor.
"This is where knowledge about how to commit a crime passes through social networks - that might be in conversation or on social media. It then inspires other young people to do it," she said.
"We can surmise that ram raids are a quite high-status crime in youth groups. They epitomise fast, daring and high-octane behaviour."
She said it was a crime problem with "complex origins" - therefore the solution was not going to be simple.
A holistic multi-agency approach was needed with a focus on building pro-social attachments between young people, their families and the community.
A report on ram raids by the National Intelligence Centre showed that in the year to October 31, there were 283 ram raids nationally.
Offenders - 157 in total - were identified for just over half of the incidents. Fifty-nine per cent were aged 14 to 17 and 38 individuals aged 12 to 19 were "repeat offenders" responsible for 26 per cent of the 283 national ram raids.
Enforcement action was taken in 37 per cent of the raids, of which 39 per cent resulted in a youth referral, and 61 per cent in prosecution.
The police report also said 4 per cent of offenders were patched gang members, 5 per cent had a gang association and five individuals were recorded as being gang prospects.
It said the increasing number of ram raids being committed by youth offenders possibly suggests a link to organised youth crime and an increasing presence of youth gangs.
"In both Waikato and Bay of Plenty, where ram raid offending was the highest, ram raids are reportedly being committed for fun and notoriety."
Offending was often being posted online, it said.
Bay of Plenty police district crime prevention manager Inspector Stephen Bullock said ram raid offenders in the region were mainly aged 14 to 20.
Bullock said police knew there was a "certain level of planning involved" because offenders worked around various prevention methods such as screens, locks and bollards. They were also adapting tactics to avoid detection, he said.
He said while there was a "thrill factor" for young people committing ram raids, the fact remained valuable items were being sought.
Youth crime was not new and police could not solve the problem alone.
"With a focus on understanding why the crime has happened, as opposed to what has happened, we have a far greater chance of making a positive change for the individual, and we are already seeing results. Much of the support in this space comes from a te Ao Māori perspective aimed at identity."
It comes after case numbers spiked in May, June, July and again in September.