‘Make them help clean up the mess’
Upset ram-raid victim wants tougher penalties
Ram raiders should be forced to return to the scenes of their crimes to clean up the mess they leave behind. That’s the view of a frustrated store owner after ram-raid burglaries at retail businesses in the Bay of Plenty almost quadrupled in four years.
Now-retired police inspector Graham Bell, of Police 10-7 fame, is also joining victims in calling for “more meaningful” penalties for offenders to curb the crimes.
One of those victims is Phil Booth, who wants more powers given to police to deal with offenders after his 100% Phil Booth appliance store in Te Puke was targeted last year.
Two men charged with the alleged break-in will defend the allegations at a judge-alone trial in May.
Recent weeks saw a spate of ram raids to gain entry to stores across the country, including liquor stores in
Rotorua and Tauranga and another store in Rotorua’s Koutu suburb.
The latest police data shows the number of ram-raid burglaries in the Bay of Plenty police district has risen from 22 in 2022 to 81 last year.
Since January 2022, there have been 256 prosecutions by police for alleged ram raids in the district, with another 63 youths referred to the police Youth Aid section.
The 319 enforcement actions were more than any other district, followed by Waikato (311) and Counties Manukau (210).
Nationwide, there were 1303 prosecutions and 396 Youth Aid referrals.
Bay of Plenty ram-raid victims want tougher penalties
Booth said Bluetooth speakers, cellphones, smart watches, alarm clock radios and Freeview boxes were among items stolen from his 100% Phil Booth store in July last year, with an estimated value of $7000, and about $20,000 in
damages caused.
“The masked offenders smashed three glass cabinets to do this and backed into the front door to gain access,” he said.
Booth said he ended up paying another $2000 to install bollards at the front of the store.
Booth said there needed to be a “tougher stance” taken with offenders, who often bragged about their crimes on social media.
“It’s not just the losses from the theft, it’s the damages and massive clean-up after smashed glass spread everywhere, it’s also the trauma of what happened.
“I’ve had sleepless nights and lost sales as the damaged front door had been closed for at least three weeks.”
He said his store was also ramraided in 2000 shortly after he opened the business.
“We need to give the police more powers to bring the offender/s back to the scene of the crime to show them the enormity of what they’ve done and also make them help clean up the mess they caused under supervision. They need to be held accountable including paying reparation.
“We shouldn’t let young offenders off scot-free just because of their age as that gives them the entirely wrong message. I’m not saying lock up every offender, but sometimes people do need to spend time in prison to understand the error of their ways.”
Booth said he was in favour of the National Party’s suggestion of having young offenders attend military-style boot camps.
The co-owner of Otonga Rd Bottleo liquor store in Rotorua, who asked not to be named, said dealing with the aftermath and clean-up were the “most upsetting things”.
It was the fourth time in just over a year the store had been targeted and, generally speaking, she wanted to see a “harder line” taken for offenders.
Police needed “more authority” to deal with offenders, especially younger ones, who in her opinion tended to just “get a slap on the hand for their crimes because of their bad upbringing”, she said.
“A lot of our customers have told us that if these young offenders are old enough to commit these crimes, they need to do adult time. I agree, especially when offenders are livestreaming their crimes and posting their crimes on Instagram.”
Jot Singh, co-owner of the Boohai Thirsty Liquor and Sports Bar in Katikati, said the police were yet to make arrests after a ram raid by masked offenders hit the store on November 30.
Singh said the ram raid meant an insurance claim totalling $35,000, including the cost of installing bollards at the front of his premises.
Singh said he did not believe offenders being given prison time was the answer, especially young offenders.
“It is far better we ensure there is better education and financial [literacy] training in schools about how to get a job and earn their own money.”
Bell, the retired police inspector in charge of criminal investigations in the Bay of Plenty and former host of TVNZ’S crime show Police Ten 7, said the spike in ram raids was indicative of a concerning attitude by some members of society that they could do whatever they liked.
He said it had been a “real big issue for far too long” and there needed to be “more meaningful” penalties for these crimes.
“I think it all starts in the home and some offenders’ crimes are the result of bad or poor parenting, with successive generations of people growing up not made to face the consequences of their wrongdoing.
“We need to break the cycle by showing them there are serious consequences for their bad behaviour.”
Bell said some even boast about it on social media “trying to outdo each other” and understandably victims and the general public want to see “something concrete” done about these crimes and he backed those calls.
This is about sending a “very clear” deterrent message to offenders and the wider community and sometimes a stint in prison, which takes the person off the street to protect the community, was the answer, he said.
In October last year, Retail NZ issued a “desperate plea” for the Government to join forces with retailers to reduce the rapidly escalating retail crime wave and develop more “effective mechanisms” to combat these crimes after new research showed the annual cost to be well over $2.5 billion.
In a written response to calls for more meaningful penalties, Police Minister Mark Mitchell told the Bay of Plenty Times the Government was taking action to crack down on serious offenders, reducing crime and putting public safety back at the heart of our justice system.
“To achieve this, we’re backing police with more powers, tools and resources so they can get the job done. We want to see real consequences for offenders and will amend the Sentencing Act and associated legislation to ensure the seriousness of an offence is reflected in sentencing.”
Mitchell said these changes would “give priority to the needs of victims and communities over offenders”, provide stronger penalties for lowerlevel crimes such as shoplifting and make gang membership an aggravating factor during sentencing.
“We will tackle youth crime by introducing military academies to get serious young offenders out of our communities, and into environments with the best mentors and support to turn their lives around.
“We will also reform the Fleeing Driver laws to curb the increase in fleeing driver incidents.
“We want to see more police visible in our communities, and that’s why we’ve committed to boosting our frontline with 500 more police in the next two years.”
Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.