A security expert believes the spike in ram raid incidents in Auckland is down to criminals' perception they can get away with crime.
On Tuesday morning, three stolen vehicles ram raided the Ormiston Town Centre shopping mall, joined by a dozen thieves on foot.
Dramatic CCTV footage Newshub obtained showed three vehicles driving around the mall at speed. It also showed the thieves loading up their cars outside Noel Leeming.
Security consultant at Scope Precision Intelligence Hamish Kerr told Newshub Late on Tuesday the rise in ram raid incidents is a "multi-faceted problem".
"Certainly in the last few months, crime has become more of a political animal therefore it's in the front of people's minds," he told Newshub Late host Ingrid Hipkiss.
"Ram raids in generally are not new, they have been happening for many, many years, decades in fact but in the current environment there are a lot more conditions that we need to think about."
Police changed their pursuit policy in 2020 to only chase fleeing cars if there is an overwhelming risk of harm.
Kerr said those changes have given criminals the perception they can get away with their crimes.
"The police pursuit policy, which came into effect a year or two back, has given the perception to offenders they can carte blanche and undertake this type of offending and have little regard for being stopped or caught by police," Kerr said.
"The perception at the moment is criminals are undertaking offending with very little police response and that is not exactly reality, as we know the police are working hard but the perception is, currently criminals are doing what they want when they want."
Kerr is calling on companies to complete a risk assessment so they understand what the risks are for their business.
"Each business needs to look at its risk profile and adjust accordingly," he told Newshub Late.
"Now that might not mean more security hardware, but an understanding of what their risk is, is really important in this current environment."
The National Party has blamed the recent rise in ram raids on the Government's "soft" crime approach.
National police spokesperson Mark Mitchell said youth offenders are responsible for 88 percent of ram raid incidents and contribute to a 31 percent increase in retail crime, which is creating more financial and emotional stress for businesses trying to recover from COVID restrictions.
"Offenders have realised they can steal a car or flee the scene of a crime without the risk of being pursued or stopped by the police," Mitchell said.
"As a result of this Government's soft on crime approach, youth offenders, gang members and organised crime groups behave as if they can act with impunity. This has created a violent crime wave in New Zealand which puts our police and the community they protect in more danger."
However, Minister of Police Poto Williams said ram raids only make up 1 percent of all retail crime.
"I would challenge the National Party to come up with more than cheap slogans such as 'soft on crime'," Williams said.
Williams said the police are focused on tackling retail crime and created the national retail investigation support unit in November 2021, to focus on repeat retail offending.
Following the ram raid incident at the Ormiston Town Centre shopping centre, two separate robberies occurred on Tuesday night, where security guards were attacked.
The first break-in was at WestCity mall in the west Auckland suburb of Henderson around 4am with a police spokesperson saying four men used a weapon to force their way into the shopping centre before attacking the guards.
The second incident on Tuesday night was a ram raid at a shop on Beach Road in Mairangi Bay.
A police spokesperson said the offenders used a car to ram the front of the shop before making off with a number of stolen items.
Watch the full interview with Hamish Kerr above.
