Burglars smash wall to get safe . . . again
Thieves’ return leaves school principal fuming, Jonathan Carson reports. A Hamilton principal is faced with thousands of dollars of damage and a costly security upgrade after thieves ripped a hole in the wall of the Gordonton School office making off with the school’s safe.
It’s the second time the school has been burgled in as many months leaving principal David McNair – furious.
‘‘It’s a school. It’s a bloody school. We’re not a business. We do a public service,’’ he fumed.
Thieves hacked at the wall and ripped out the safe with a crowbar, lifted it into a wheelie bin, dragged it through a field and loaded it into a getaway vehicle overnight Sunday.
While the safe contained only a couple of cheques and some petty cash, the damage to the Gordonton School office will cost thousands of dollars to fix, Mr McNair said.
‘‘If there was 100 bucks in there I’d be very surprised.
‘‘This is just an inconvenience for nothing.
‘‘It’s not like we’ve got a lot of money in the school. Schools never do have much money.’’
Mr McNair has now used up the school’s vandalism budget for the year, which will have to be topped up by the Ministry of Education.
The burglary is one of more than 20 break-ins across the region since May forcing some principals to consider more rigorous security measures, including the installation of costly underground safes in order to protect money and valuable items.
Mr McNair said schools shouldn’t have to blow the budget on security, but they also couldn’t afford to keep repairing and replacing property each month.
‘‘I went to South Africa a couple of years ago and security is massive over there in the schools. They were spending up to about $130,000 a year on security alone in a school. That’s just ridiculous.
‘‘All the schools were wired on the outside, they had security gates to get through, a livein guard, all that sort of stuff.
‘‘It is sad, but if that’s the way things have to go. That’s the extreme case, of course.’’
In early June, a group of burglars used a crowbar to break into the school office, ripped the alarm system from the wall, attempted to break-in to the safe, and stole a few chocolate bars. The damage cost about $4000 to repair.
The latest incident has left a gaping hole in the office wall and Mr McNair expected another $4000 repair bill.
He believed it was the same people involved in both burglaries because they knew exactly where to find the safe.
The offenders were wearing gloves and police were unable to find any fingerprints at the scene. They also cut the wires to a security light and the only footage caught on the school’s security ‘‘This is just an inconvenience for nothing. It’s not like we’ve got a lot of money in the school. Schools never do have much money.’’
Gordonton School principal David McNair believes he was burgled twice by the same offenders as they knew exactly where to find the office safe. cameras was of two dark silhouettes.
Ohaupo School Board of Trustees chairman Mark Turnwald said he was also looking at the possibility of installing an underground safe after the school was burgled in May.
‘‘Personally, I think it would be a good idea,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s disappointing, but I guess everyone has to think about these sorts of things now.’’ Thousands of dollars worth of property has been stolen, including computers, cash and jewellery, from schools in Raglan, Hamilton, Huntly, Morrinsville, Ohaupo, Gordonton, Roto O Rangi, Paterangi, Motumaoho and Te Awamutu since May.