Rising ram raids ‘one of our biggest problems’
Riverslea Mall is the latest commercial premises to be severely damaged in what is the 21st ram raid or smash-and-grab in the Eastern Bay this year — and social media credibility has surfaced as a potential motive behind the crimes.
A stolen Mazda Demio was used to smash through the western entrance of the Edgecumbe mall around 1.10am on Tuesday.
A smash-and-grab constitutes offenders using an object to smash open the windows or doors of a business, then enter and grab as much as possible before fleeing.
In Tuesday morning’s incident, the three offenders drove around the bollards outside the mall’s entrance doors, then used the vehicle to break through three barriers to gain entry into the mall’s Central Vape store.
The mall’s exterior glass doors were smashed first and the aluminium framing bent and twisted.
Inside the mall, the offenders’ vehicle bent a second set of metal security gates before smashing open the glass door to Central Vape.
Several vapes and vaping products were taken, along with a $400 cash float, Senior Sergeant Al Fenwick said.
Police were not notified of the ram raid until 5am, Fenwick said, but investigations were ongoing using CCTV footage.
Police were appealing for anyone who witnessed a blue Mazda Demio driving through Edgecumbe around 1am Tuesday to get in contact.
The 21 crimes of this nature this year have caused thousands of dollars of damage and mounting insurance issues for local retailers.
Fenwick said the number of ram raids have increased from a few years ago, when one such incident a year was normal.
“It’s come from nothing to now being one of our biggest problems.”
The offenders were often juvenile and from across the North Island, usually picking up cars from one location, and driving them to another site to commit the crimes.
The stolen Mazda used in Tuesday night’s ram raid was taken from Hamilton on Sunday.
Most of the crimes were not committed because of the desire to steal objects, it was more for the notoriety of doing it — with social media influencing several young offenders, Fenwick said.
“A lot of it’s to do with being able to post on their Tiktok or social media what they’ve done for credibility.
“It’s not even like they really care about what they steal, it’s more the action of stealing it and getting notoriety amongst their peers. It becomes much harder to come up with a viable solution if they don’t even care what they’re stealing.”
He said the offenders sometimes livestream their burglaries.
The recurring offending “affects the whole community” and local economy, as the bills have meant insurance companies were reluctant to insure businesses, which in turn meant some could not operate.
He said businesses repeatedly targeted were Stirling Sports on The Strand, Rebel Sports at The Hub, jewellery stores and dairies.
Some of the issues also come down to a lack of parental supervision.
“You ask the question, why don’t you know where your intermediate or early high school-aged kids are at one o’clock at night?
“If you knew where your kids were, they wouldn’t be out stealing cars and wrecking people’s livelihoods.”
Police have been working with EPIC Whakata¯ ne and local organisations to find solutions.
Cherie Stevenson, spokeswoman for EPIC Whakata¯ ne Town Centre, said the consistent offending was “terrible”, and plans were “in the works” to up security in town.
“It’s getting to be pretty stressful for the business owners.”
The Whakatane District Council hiring a security consultant last year, who established better lighting, more security cameras and bollards were needed in town.