A spate of brazen ram raids has rocked New Zealand. Image / NZME
A spate of brazen ram raids has rocked New Zealand. Image / NZME
Ram raid attacks have left a path of destruction across Auckland over the last two weeks.
Multiple targets have been hit and shopowners now face the reality that they could be next.
What's more is that the attacks are becoming more brazen, shifting from dairies to department stores and malls, which often offer the criminals more lucrative hauls.
She says that offenders are turning away from dairy owners because they've realised they can make better scores elsewhere.
"The dairy owners are now locking up vapes and cigarettes. The offenders have to be in and out really quickly. They've only got a few minutes, and they're not getting a lot from the dairies. They're just getting chippies, lollies and drinks. So they are becoming more brazen and targeting high-end designer clothing, electrical goods and other stuff they can sell easily."
Phare says there's something desirable about notoriety that is afforded to those brazen enough to smash a stolen vehicle into a mall.
"There's definitely a social media element to it," she says.
"They don't leave it up very long, but they are sharing it on Snapchat and Tiktok. There's definitely evidence of that. It's a bit of a craze at the moment. Ram raids aren't new, but they're definitely on the increase."
Research into ram raids has shown that most ram raid offenders are under the age of 17, indicating that this problem is concentrated among younger demographics.
Phare says this demographic group simply doesn't face the same repercussions as older offenders.
"No one will really admit this, but up to the age of 18 kids are dealt with in the youth the court. They're not going to go to jail. They'll get community service. I mean, one of our local store owners, a bottle shop owner, got a letter of apology but there was $30,000 of damage done and his store is still boarded up because there's a huge backlog waiting for these doors to be replaced."
For these offenders to face any repercussions, they first need to be caught and there simply is no guarantee of this happening either.
"I did get some data from the police showing that in the year between February 2021 and March 2022, only 20 young people were apprehended. These kids are wearing masks and gloves. They're wearing plain clothing, like pale grey hoodies and sweat pants. They certainly don't go in wearing a spangly jacket that everybody will be able to recognise. These kids are getting away with it."
Asked whether these attacks on stores were well organised or simply chaotic smash and grabs, Phare said that the evidence showed a mix of both.
Kaurilands GAS service station owner Kanna Sharma had his store targeted this week. Photo / Adam Pearse
"I've watched quite a lot of CCTV footage and some of it is like Fawlty Towers. It's disorganised. It's almost funny. They're stealing things with nothing inside and they're missing stuff just because they're in such a panic.
"But other stuff is very organised. They come in two cars, one's a getaway car, and they've scoped the place first. They know exactly what they're targeting. In the example of one bottle store, they didn't even look around. They came in, jumped on the counter and reached up for the thousand-dollar bottles of collector whiskey. They knew exactly what they were after and they took about $10,000 worth of alcohol. You can't tell me that's for personal use. They must be stealing that to order."
Phare says that the businesses facing these attacks often have to fork out their own money to protect their premises.
"They can put in fog cannons … they're putting in roller doors, grills, ram bollards, bolts, more CCTV cameras inside and out, louder alarms, and maybe getting the alarm monitored. But that all costs thousands of dollars and it's not covered by insurance. I mean, some of these stores are spending an extra $30,000 to $40,000 to secure themselves and they just [small] retail stores."
On the topic of what we could do to reduce the frequency of ram raids across New Zealand, Phare admits that there are no easy answers.
"The problem is catching them," she says.
"Once they catch them, I think the youth court system works reasonably well. They make sure they keep tabs on them, try to set them in a new direction and make them do community service … Understandably, a lot of people are very angry and they say the system is way too soft, but I don't know. Do we really want to lock up 14- 15- and 16-year-olds in youth jail for a year?"
Phare says the real challenge here is catching the perpetrators so that they can be set on a different path through the help of the system, their community and their families. But this is easier said than done for a police force that's already stretched.
"I suspect this is a craze and it's going to be very hard to knock it on the head until the craze is over – and then there'll be something else that they get up to."
•
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am.
