Community leaders and shop owners in the latest Auckland town centre targeted by ram raiders say more police on the streets will not solve the social problems causing the spike.
A four-wheel-drive was driven through the entrance to a clothing store on Panmure's main street in the early hours of this morning, with the burglars getting away with a carload of goods.
It is the third ram raid in the east Auckland town centre in six months, where a thriving business association employs a security liaison officer who works alongside at risk young people.
Broken glass and bent metal joinery was all that was left of the entrance to Big Broz, where shop owner Vinod Ranchhod said there had been a spate of break-ins, including a ram raid, at local shops.
"I feel really insecure. The dairy across the road, they got robbed in the daytime and then DTR was done (ram raided) across the road and then the mobile shop had a car through their [entrance]."
The government is putting $500 million extra funding towards boosting the number of front line police officers and address gang violence, over four years.
Big Broz was ram raided in the early hours of the morning. Photo: RNZ / Amy Williams
Ranchhod would like police officers to patrol the Panmure town centre but said the buck doesn't stop with them.
"I think police can only do so much, they can't be the parents of the children they have to do their job, they have a family after work. It's the parents' responsibility, how they bring their children up."
Taniela Kaivelata works for the Panmure Business Association as a security liaison officer.
He has lived in the area for 25 years and knows many local families, and is concerned for the young people involved in ram raids.
"It's pretty sad seeing the footage and then you can see the age, 13 and 14 years, it'll be four years and then they're 18 and you don't know where they're going to be going to."
Taniela Kaivelata is concerned for the young people carrying out the ram raids. Photo: RNZ / Amy Williams
Kaivelata's role straddles social work, and he was a youth worker in a former role.
At-risk kids sometimes turn up at his house for a meal and to hang out with his own teenage sons.
"I slowly work with them, have them around in my house and then slowly turn them around and they are good boys. They just need someone on their side to support them."
He had seen the impact a role model could have.
"I advise them they have to have honesty and loyalty and then you respect where you are and respect Panmure, try to be a Panmure boy and do something positive."
Panmure town centre has new outdoor seating and lighting, freshly painted murals on shops' metal roller doors, and a newly opened art gallery.
Business Association chairperson Elaine Soakai said it was part of a plan to revitalise the town centre and make it feel safer, especially at night.
"Theft and burglary is something that most businesses and business associations are familiar with but this kind of escalation to ram raids is quite alarming. Just seeing so many of them in such a short period of time is definitely concerning."
Elaine Soakai is alarmed by the amount of ram raids in a such short period of time. Photo: RNZ / Amy Williams
The government has acknowledged that ram raids are spiking, although the rate of crime committed by young people has fallen by more than half over the past decade.
"The government's acknowledgement that there's an issue plays a big role in making businesses and business associations feel safer and feel like we're getting the support that we need," Soakai said.
More police on the street would help but it was not the long term answer to the spike in ram raids.
"I think this would call for bigger things like more wraparound health services, education services, mental health, I think that there's a bigger issue here."
Kaivelata agreed and said local services educating and supporting young people needed better funding and support from government.
The media's role in encouraging ram raiders was overstated - the buck stopeds closer to home, he said.
"There's a lack of parenting. It depends how you raise up your kids and how you support your kids."
Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford echoed the call to look at what issues were driving youth to carry out ram raids.
He told Checkpoint the government's law and order package is a good first step but he wanted to see more being done.
"We really need to see what the government can do to encourage frankly, respect for the law and respect for property rights because ultimately there's a series of social issues here that's causing people to get involved in ram raids and people want to show off to their friends on social media and all that."
Harford would not be surprised if shop owners increased security beyond the installation of bollards.
"Retailers are looking to how to make sure that their premises are more secure than they have been in the past - that includes things like the installation of bollards, it does include roller doors, it includes reinforces across windows and so forth.
"It's pretty grim for the retailers concerned, there's a lot of concern that someone's going to get seriously hurt."
Harford would like to see funding for bollards and other measures to fortify shop fronts - and a change in regulations to allow that work to happen.
