Ramraid reasons ‘complex’

For almost eight months, business owners across Auckland have been locking their shops’ doors at night, not knowing what the state of their stores will be when they return the following morning.

Once a novelty crime, now an everyday occurrence, ramraids have left Auckland business owners with crushing financial losses and damage.

Police have revealed 90% of those committing ramraids are aged under 19, while half are under the age of 14.

But what’s led so many ramraids to occur in Auckland over such a short time span? And what’s motivating rangatahi to commit them?

The Crime Prevention Group, which advocates for almost 5000 businesses across New Zealand, were learning of ramraids before they drew media attention. Its president, Sunny Kaushal, has become a face of small business crime. He has co-ordinated a large proportion of the ramraid response with police – advising them on which vulnerable businesses to focus attention on and arranging meetings involving politicians and local owners.

From his perspective, the ramraids have three key motivators – the biggest being the influence of organised crime.

‘‘They’ve been using young offenders as the front line for a long time – understanding the flaws in law and knowing young people are let go easily,’’ he says. ‘‘We’ve monitored various incidents on dairies – they have their shifts and timings. One van would drop maybe 10 or 12 youngsters at a point in the target area, then another van comes and drops another dozen youngsters and picks up the current ones.

‘‘Organised crime [is] focused on certain businesses like jewellery shops, or convenience stores where they only want cigarettes. These products then head to the black market to be sold.’’

The second most common influence would be financial gain, Kaushal says. He understands many offenders come from families where parents can’t provide for their children.

This is seconded by Tāmaki youth worker Chris Makoere, who has seen lowincome families unable to put food on the table and putting pressure on their children to find an income for themselves.

‘‘If they rip clothes off the shop and start wearing them, they’ll stand out. But sell it on to somebody more wealthy and sell it for $200, instead of $500 from the shop, it’s not as noticeable.’’

Kaushal also mentions the influence of social media. Kaushal calls the online promotion of ramraids a ‘‘newfound thrill’’.

According to Makoere, it has a major impact on creating competition between young people.

‘‘The one at [Ormiston Shopping Centre] was next-level, the factor being it was quite visible. That drives young people, making them think ‘oh wow, I could do that’ – it even prompts them to put together a premeditated plan.’’

Police believe ramraids began to spike in October 2021 – but overall, youth crime statistics have been tracking down for a long time. The latest Youth Justice Indicators Summary Report revealed offending rates among children aged 10 -13 fell by 65% between 2010/11 and 2020/21.

In that same period, offending rates among youth (aged 13-18) dropped 63%.

So why have ramraids, mostly committed by young people, spiked?

University of Auckland criminologist Dr Ronald Kramer says while it’s easy for people to scapegoat young people, seeing the next generation as worse than the last, youth haven’t had ‘‘a sudden surge in criminality’’ – the types of crimes they’re committing have just changed.

Kramer says the pandemic has put paid to many of the things young people used to take for granted, causing them to ‘‘start doing odd stuff’’.

‘‘I wouldn’t want to be 20 at the moment, what is there to look forward to? You haven’t been able to hang out with friends, you can’t go outside because there’s a virus out there that could kill you and your family.

‘‘Young people are going to be a bit messed up after a few years of that ... [their] behaviour is a symptom of something far more complex.’’