As brazen youths increasingly target stores with ram raids and burglaries in the dead of night, Jane Phare looks at the effects of the rise in suburban warfare, and what businesses can do to protect themselves.
The CCTV footage is as riveting as it is horrifying. Here, in the sleepy Auckland beachside suburb of St Heliers where nothing much happens after dark, a ram raid is underway.
It's 3am on a Tuesday and the beach is deserted. So is the road frontage on Tāmaki Drive. Two cars pull up outside The Cellar By Kiwi Liquor opposite the beach and three figures get out, hoodies up, masks on. They know they're on camera. They spend a few minutes trying to break the lock on the roller door using a tool. They've come prepared.
The next tool they use, a stolen car, is no match for the wood, reinforced glass and roller-door frontage of The Cellar. Twice the driver mounts the footpath and smashes into the store's roller door. The third time he hits with such force the car crashes into the shop, shattering glass, caving in the door and demolishing the display window.
The alarms are screeching and the security company is already on the phone trying to wake store manager Manpreet Singh. Then they ring the police, but it will be too late. Everyone knows that. The smash-and-grab raiders are in and out in two minutes, escaping in the second stolen car with alcohol worth thousands of dollars.
Left behind after these raids - to dairies, superettes, liquor stores, supermarkets, petrol stations, vape store, cafes and clothing stores – is unimaginable mess and damage. Some superette owners arrive to find the smashed car still inside their store, the debris looking like a bomb has gone off.
The repairs to The Cellar in St Heliers will take months. The insurance bill will be $45,000 for the shop damage, $5000 for the temporary plywood, and another $8000 for the alcohol stolen. The owner will spend another $20,000 making the store, front and back, like a fortress – extra grilles and roller doors, a fog cannon, extra CCTV cameras and louder alarms. This is war and the aim is to keep the enemy out.
It's a similar story throughout Auckland's eastern suburbs, throughout the city, and the rest of the country. In Auckland suburbs, the sight of Emergency Glass plywood covering broken shopfronts is becoming an all-too-familiar sight.
Business owners ask where are the police and what are they doing about this? But they know the answer. The police say they do their best. Officers attend the crime scene and, in most cases, look for forensic evidence, write a report and then nothing happens. The store owners never see their stolen stock again or get reparation, and more often than not the offenders aren't caught.
Business owners acknowledge police resources are stretched, made worse in the past two years by MIQ and border control duties, not to mention the recent Wellington protest. But still, they want to know why the police aren't cracking down on these young, mainly male offenders.
The Herald asked the police how many youths had been charged for this sort of crime, listed under aggravated burglary. The answer was just 20 young people "apprehended" between February 2021 and March 2022.
The police declined requests from the Herald for an interview, instead sending a prepared statement attributed to the Assistant Commissioner Sandra Venables, in which she said police were committed to tackling crime in the retail sector.
"We understand this type of offending is extremely frustrating and saddening for business owners who suffer losses and damage to their business which takes time and money to repair and which can be disheartening and frightening for owners and staff, especially in the current environment.
"Our investigations, prevention and frontline teams are working together to respond to incidents and locate and arrest offenders, while continuing to gather the evidence needed to put them before the courts," the statement said.
Last late year Police Commissioner Andrew Coster announced the formation of the National Retail Investigation Support Unit to focus on serious offences, particularly where violence and intimidation had occurred. Police say the unit is expected to be operational by mid-April.
Although the New Zealand Retail Association welcomes the move, business owners spoken to by the Herald don't think it will make much difference for non-violent offences. They don't see evidence of young offenders being dealt with and they suspect the same ones keep coming back.
The conundrum is that the youth offending figures have been gradually dropping over the past decade according to the Ministry of Justice's Youth Justice Indicators report of December 2021. The report showed a gradual decrease in child (10 to 13 years) and youth (14 to 17 years) offending over the past 10 years, attributed in part to an array of youth programmes introduced to help keep young offenders from heading to prison.
Speaking to the report, Justice Minister Kris Faafoi said data in the report would help to keep children and young people out of the justice system "while ensuring that they are held accountable for their actions in an appropriate way".
But are they held accountable, particularly if they're under 18, business owners ask? They say the attacks are relentless and, in some cases, well organised. The offenders often steal two cars, one to ram the shop frontage and the other as a getaway vehicle. They steal thousands of dollars worth of valuable stock which makes business owners question if they are working on behalf of gangs.
Because the police don't keep specific data on ram raids and shop break-ins, the extent of the problem is difficult to assess. And one issue with the ministry's youth justice indicators report is that if the same youth offender is caught several times within a 12-month period, the multiple offences are still counted as one, meaning repeat offending doesn't show up in the report.
This month MP for Tāmaki Simon O'Connor took to Facebook to talk about 15 ram raids in his electorate in the past few months. He either knows or has visited most of the business owners in Glendowie, Ōrākei, St Johns, Stonefields, Kohimarama and Glen Innes.
He, too, says business owners are impressed with the police's initial response but are frustrated that even if the offenders are caught, they often do not appear to be charged, and they come back.
"They're getting away with it. That's probably the most fundamental point at the moment . That's what frustrates me and locals is that there doesn't appear to be enough consequences."
A police spokesperson said if caught, youths were either arrested or referred to Youth Aid. Those arrested will either be released without charge and referred to Youth Aid or charged and go to court, following which they will have a court-ordered Family Group Conference (FGC). Youth Aid have a number of options, including a warning, alternative action or an FGC with a view to putting the young person before the court.
Raids range from bumbling to well organised
Sometimes the raiders might only get away with a few hundred dollars worth of chips, lollies and drinks but leave behind thousands of dollars worth of chaos. The Herald has watched CCTV footage from several break-ins and ram raids, ranging from bumbling and disorganised offenders to slick and well organised.
At the Churchill Club by Glendowie beach, where local members gather to have a meal, drink and play darts, club administrator Libby Ellery can't help laughing at some of the footage of their latest break-in. The three masked intruders seem confused about what to take. One wrestles furiously with an empty till, detaching it and dragging it over the counter. Another gathers up open bottles of alcohol from the bar, still with the pourers in them. Bemused, Ellery says, "They took the Bombay Sapphire gin and left three bottles of [more expensive] Scapegrace. No taste."
They also pinched the suggestion box and a basket of forks on the way out, most of which they spilled in the foyer. They left behind a three broken doors and locks, broken glass and time-consuming paperwork for the police and insurance company. The next morning a club member spent 35 minutes trying to report the crime and, in the end, drove to the Glen Innes police station. The police said they wouldn't visit to take fingerprints but gave her an email address to send through photos from the CCTV.
But not all the raids are bumbling. CCTV footage shows well-organised groups working methodically and fast to target high-end stock. In one case, ram bollards and a grill across a window and door didn't deter a group of five youths from breaking into a bottle store in the eastern suburbs.
They turned the stolen SUV around, opened the back door and reversed at speed that the impact smashed through the entry door between the bollards. Hearing the smash, a neighbour a few hundred metres away dialled 111, telling the police he was watching a ram raid underway. But the group were in and out in a few minutes, stealing thousands of dollars worth of stock and speeding off minutes before the patrol car pulled up.
Now the owner has joined the queue to wait for a $10,000 roller door to go over the grilled windows, a cost that insurance won't cover. Around the corner, the owners of a ram-raided dairy have waited for months to have the plywood covering their broken windows replaced. Sympathetic locals crowdfunded to cover the cost of installing bollards outside and a nearby cafe owner, a former policeman, installed CCTV cameras free of charge.
Ten minutes away Henry Yin is serving inside Eden Foods, the superette on St Heliers' main shopping street. His parents' store has been hit twice recently, once in a ram raid and then with a crowbar. Now the entire double-store frontage is boarded up while they wait for the glass and door to be replaced.
The raiders pinched just a few hundred dollars worth of stock but did $20,000 worth of damage to the shop front and a $10,000 cash register. Ironically Yin can see the old St Heliers police station from outside the superette but the building is closed, and will be sold. The next nearest station at Glen Innes is open only between 9am and 4pm on weekdays, which makes the nearest after-hours police station the one in Mt Wellington.
It is crime that makes local communities angry and indignant. They get to know the shop owners who are there at all hours. During the various Covid-19 lockdowns, they were grateful to be able to pop to the local superette rather than queue at the supermarket.
Last year the Ōrākei Superette was targeted repeatedly – three ram raids and a break-in over an eight-week period. Owners Jay and Kusum Patel have worked long hours for more than 30 years in the superette and, after the third ram raid, arrived to find a car inside their smashed store. Locals were incensed. "Jay's" is a place where locals can buy everything from Pascall Feijoa Lumps to a Lotto ticket, post off a parcel, drop off dry cleaning, or get printing done.
Customers launched a Givealittle page to crowdfund for bollards and a roller door, raising more than their target. The insurance claim for the raids was $60,000 but the Patels needed to pay for extra security measures. Jay Patel thinks the police know the offenders.
"But you can't put them in jail. The police just take them home."
'They just keep coming back'
Smash-and-grab offences aren't new. Matrix Security CEO Scott Carter remembers them back in the 1980s when he was a police officer, usually kids breaking into shops to steal chocolate and cigarettes.
"What is relatively new is that now it's in every suburb, not just certain parts of Auckland. And it's repeated. The intensity appears to us to be very unusual. They just keep coming back," he says.
"Part of the brazenness and frequency of the attacks we believe is down to the fact that the police are significantly stretched."
Police have had good success with major crime targets such as drug importation, he says, but neighbourhood patrolling is now limited. On morning walks Carter has increasingly noticed abandoned cars that have been used in ram raids or as getaway vehicles, often with their ignitions punched out. Recently he and his wife found a car with its engine still running. The police weren't able to attend so they tracked down the owners themselves.
He feels for small businesses already struggling with the effects of lockdowns and Covid-19 and now having to find extra money to beef up their defences. Smash-and-grab offences cause damage way out of proportion to the value of the stolen goods, the cost of repairing the damage and the cost of installing effective countermeasures, he says.
Carter says Matrix's average response time to a callout is eight minutes but street-smart offenders will be in and out within four minutes, knowing that it's unlikely a police patrol or security guard will turn up before then. The trick is to slow down offenders using whatever defences businesses can afford, he says.
"If it takes them three to four minutes to force their way in, one day they're going to get unlucky and a [security] patrol car or the police will be there quicker."
Matrix is now partnering with a list of business associations that have formed crime prevention committees, knowing that although the police might have good intentions, there is little they can do if they don't happen to have a patrol car in the area.
Greg Harford, chief executive of Retail New Zealand says his organisation is receiving increasing reports of ram raids with some businesses being targeted multiple times. The industry estimates retail crime costs at least $1 billion annually and Harford expects that figure to rise.
"This is a huge issue and it is driving up insurance costs and other costs for businesses which, ultimately, are being passed on to consumers. We need to get the message through to everyone in New Zealand that it's just not okay, not cool, and not acceptable to steal, to damage property, or threaten or assault people."
Carter agrees, saying his view is that although hardship can drive offending, he doubts the more-organised ram raiders are hard up.
"Stealing alcohol or vaping product is not hardship. They're not stealing food. When you've got an economy where there are plenty of jobs for people, it is a lifestyle choice for those who would much rather steal from others."
Even if shop owners spend thousands of dollars to install anti suburban-warfare devices Carter says that won't solve the problem. The offenders will simply move to the next shop or neighbourhood.
Shops boarded up for months
Insurance companies aren't happy either, faced with having to fork out to fixed wrecked shop frontages at a time when supply issues and staff shortages mean costs escalate. NZI's executive general manager, Garry Taylor, says based on anecdotal evidence, the company has seen an increase both in ram raids and break-ins, and cars stolen for that purpose, in the past 12 months.
"Ram raids are disruptive at the best of times and for some of our customers, sadly, it can take a long time for their business to recover. Often there is significant damage to the building, on top of the loss of stock."
Around Auckland, industries involved in the repairs are struggling to keep up, meaning store owners work in gloomy interiors for weeks, and sometimes months, while they wait for glass doors and windows to replace the plywood.
Stephen Ottley, general manager of Auckland Glass says his sales staff estimate ram- raid call outs are up about 30 per cent in the past eight months, with liquor stores and vape shops most frequently targeted. The cost of glass has increased markedly since Covid-19 due to shipping costs and a "massive" shortage of staff in the industry.
"We can deal with emergencies. But if we're busy we board it up and come back another day."
Roller doors, too, are in demand. William Hall, sales manager for industrial door company Metalbilt says the company has noticed a surge in orders in the past two years, particularly from liquor stores. Frequently the order is to replace the last roller door damaged in a raid.
Hall recommends strong aluminium grills rather than roller doors because when the car hits, the grill stretches like a net around the car and makes entry difficult. When a roller door is rammed it often bends and buckles, or detaches from the ends so that burglars can scramble around the side.
Pre-Covid, Ange Hunter, owner of Impact Tints, ran a brisk business tinting windows to reduce sun glare and fade. She never used to carry safety/impact tint in her van because orders were so rare, usually schools wanting to make windows safe for children. Now the call-outs for impact-tint film as a security measure are so frequent it's become a major part of her business.
"I've seen a huge increase. I'm doing safety more than ever since Covid. It's shocking. I did another two this week. "
Case closed
Five months after the ram raid on The Cellar, Manpreet Singh is still waiting for the repairs on his shop frontage to be completed. And he doubts he'll ever see the high-end whiskies he had so carefully collected.
CCTV footage shows the three offenders knew exactly what to take. Two scoop up boutique gins and vodka while a third leaps on to the counter and immediately reaches for the whisky, some worth between $1200 and $1500 a bottle. Singh, a Sikh, doesn't drink but he knows his whisky, collecting rare bottles himself and advising other collectors. Some of the stolen bottles were limited editions with numbers etched on their beautiful packaging. A rare Ben Nevis, a 30-year-old whisky worth up to $2000, is irreplaceable.
Singh imported some of the bottles directly from Scotland and he would recognise them if they were they to show up on TradeMe. Now Singh is confused. He says he was initially told by police that they knew who the offenders were and two of them were old enough to be charged. He was later told they were underage and that the file had been closed. The Herald made inquiries about Singh's case and the police confirmed the matter had been filed.
"At this stage police have exhausted all lines of inquiry," a spokesperson said. "Should new information come to light, police are open to reassessing the matter."
Anyone with information on a crime can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Suburban warfare: how to keep your business safe
• Take the till drawer out to show that it is empty
• Remove temptation from the window and where possible put stock out of sight
• In clothing stores, slow down a raid by turning every other coat hanger around on racks, making it difficult to lift off multiple garments in one sweep
• Consider installing glass-break alarms. The earlier an alarm goes off, the better chance of catching the offenders
• If your store has been targeted repeatedly, consider installing a roller door or grill, and bollards or a ram beam
• Install alarms that ring loudly both inside and outside the store, and consider having the alarm monitored
• Install CCTV cameras both inside and outside the store
• Speak to the police about a government-funded subsidy for a fog cannon
• Improve lighting out the front and back entrances of your store
• To stop your car being stolen for a ram raid or robbery, make sure it is locked and parked in a well-lit area. Consider using an immobiliser and alarm