Police patrols and employee no problem for thief
A brazen burglar has made off with thousands of dollars worth of tools, hitting three Palmerston North construction companies while dodging police patrols.
The thief cut through a fence on Railway Rd into Stringfellow Contractors’ yard at 2am yesterday. He then cut through to nearby Metro Windows and Doors, before moving on to ransack Colspec Construction.
Stringfellow’s general manager, Simon de Rose, said the burglar was a pretty bold man, because security footage of the break-in also showed police cars patrolling the area several times.
‘‘[But] the most unsettling thing is a driver, for a company that rents part of our yard, actually came and went at the same time the burglary was in progress.’’
De Rose said Stringfellow staff did not notice anything was wrong for a couple of hours after starting work yesterdaymorning, as there were no obvious signs of a break-in.
They only found holes in the fence and reviewed security footage, after Colspec told de Rose another company had been robbed.
Metro Windows and Doors owner Alison Hanegraaf said the thief seemed to know what he was doing, because he went straight for a table-saw which was kept in a secure container.
He also took care to look for security cameras and avoid them when he could. The company had been burgled twice before in the past year and saw off several more attempts.
They had learned a few lessons about security camera placement, Hanegraaf said.
‘‘He kept his head down most of the time and had his hood up
but we got a couple of money shots.’’
Hanegraaf said they had to pay $1600 for a new table-saw because they could not finish any jobs without it. ‘‘You just feel sick ... and dealing with it has taken up the whole morning for me and my husband, between talking to police and reviewing security footage.’’
Colspec Construction co-owner Hamish O’brien said the burglar spent more than three hours between sites without being detected and had taken armfuls of tools from Colspec’s secured containers.
‘‘I have had better starts to the year and the same thing happened at the beginning of last year.’’
O’brien said tools being stolen was frustratingly common for construction companies and Colspec’s yard or construction sites were hit four or five times a year.
‘‘There is not much you can do to stop it; we are pretty much sitting ducks.
‘‘They have always got plenty of time to figure out how to get around whatever security you do.’’
That did not mean thieves got away with it: Colspec had a fair amount of success supplying police with enough information and security footage to find them, O’brien said.
‘‘We get most of them in the end ... and between the three sites we should have enough footage to get this guy too.’’
Anyone with information that might help catch the burglar can call police on 105 quoting the file number 210113/4859, or canmake an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.