The GAS station in Lake Rotoma service station was ram raided. Photo / Andrew Warner
For the owner of a twice ram raided Rotoma service station, the hurt came not in what was stolen, but in the time consuming, expensive messes left behind.
"It was devastating... to repair that damage it took us almost four weeks. For a businessman it's pretty hard to come back - it puts you behind," said the GAS service station owner, who only wanted to be known as P Gill.
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" glamorised 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 five years shows 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- to 17-year-olds responsible for just under 60 per cent in 2018 rising to just over 70 per cent this year.
In the first raid of the State Highway 30 service station last March, security camera footage showed one of the offenders videoing the ordeal.
A red ute rammed the front entrance and cigarettes, cash and a till were taken.
It was hit again in May only two weeks after it had finally reopened - this meant the business had to close for another week.
Gill said he lost money despite most of the damage being covered by insurance.
He had since installed bollards in front of the store and reduced opening hours.
In his view, the offenders who targeted his store were "not thinking about other people".
"They are just doing it for a few more likes on their TikTok account or whatever - that's the way I see it."
Another store was hit twice, causing thousands in damage and left staff feeling frustrated and drained.
"It gets draining because you are having to work to get the place back up and running. It gets a bit frustrating - because you have got people who are doing these things not realising their actions affect a lot of people,'' the manager said.
"They are quite selfish. What about the owners and the staff? It's our livelihood."
The manager said security camera footage showed one individual was filming the incident.
The owner of another local store said the crime was "devastating".
"You feel like a bit of a sitting duck - we've got bollards ... 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 livestreaming 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."
The 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, 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.
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 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 12-19 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" as 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."
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