The crime epidemic sweeping the country shows no sign of easing and east Auckland businesses haven’t been immune.
Offences such as ram-raids and smash-and-grab burglaries have dominated headlines all year, with many having been committed by youths.
Among the most recent local incidents is the burglary of a commercial property in Highland Park on December 7.
A police spokesperson says an offender broke into the Aviemore Drive store at about 3.40am.
Investigators were working to establish what was stolen later that morning.
Counties Manukau East Police area commander, Inspector Scott Gemmell, says ram-raids and smash-and-grabs are not new.
“We’ve had them over the 20 years I’ve been in the police,” he told the Times.
“In this area we had quite a few ram-raids at the end of last year and it hit social media.
“The one that was biggest at the time was at Ormiston Town Centre [in April].
“Unfortunately the social media element doesn’t help. It was relayed everywhere.
“They [young offenders] see it and they want to be involved in it.”
Police data shows there were 33 smash-and-grab burglaries in the Counties Manukau East area between January and November this year.
The most in a single month is the six committed in August, with five in April and four each in January, May, July and October.
The data shows there were 20 ram-raid burglaries in the area during in the same time period with the most recorded in a single month being the six in April.
Gemmell says some of the young people involved in such offending are bored, disengaged from school and often truant, and when caught try to “bait” police.
“They’re doing it to film themselves. There have been injuries in amongst all of this.
“We’ve got people who have fallen and hurt themselves and many parents are beside themselves wondering whether their young one will come back. It’s a really dangerous activity.
“It was quite prevalent in Counties Manukau East initially but it’s had a steady decline since then.”
He says as of November 29, there were 29 suspects and 30 offenders linked to the ram-raids and smash-and-grab burglaries in the area.
Dozens of charges have been laid including 41 of burglary, four of robbery, two of receiving stolen property and one of unlawful interference.
The people charged are almost exclusively male and an average age of 15-18 years old.
The majority of the offenders live outside the local area.
Gemmell says measures are now in place at some local shopping centres in an effort to deter ram-raids, but smash-and-grabs “are still highly damaging and very costly”.
“When you couple it with what’s being stolen, the majority of the time it’s vape products or alcohol.
“If it’s superettes [being broken into], it’s chocolates and cigarettes, if they get them.
“We’ve seen a steady decline in this area but nationally it’s still high.”
His officers have monthly meetings with security managers at the main local shopping centres.
Those meetings involve discussions about what steps can be taken to reduce crime.
Gemmell also deploys police community and prevention teams to locations such as shopping malls.
“We visit our superettes and dairies to have a face to be able to speak to as well.
“There are many shops that would fall into the category of being vulnerable, but business associations and our community teams get alongside [them] and try to offer as much reassurance as possible.
“The times and dates of these ram-raids and smash-and-grabs will also correlate with the time we send our prevention teams to those particular locations.
“That’s what we’re trying to do and, coupled with some arrests, we’ve seen a decline since about the middle of the year.”
