Two masked intruders were caught on the club’s CCTV, breaking into its garage two weeks ago and taking a lawnmower and a weed eater.
Saunders supplied police with the CCTV footage, which was not of good enough quality to identify the offenders. But Saunders is disappointed police have not examined the numerous CCTV cameras in Lyttelton, including at Naval Point, to see if there is better footage that could identify suspects.
A police spokesperson confirmed the CCTV footage supplied by Saunders had been examined but was not of a sufficient quality to be useful. The case has now been filed, pending further information.
Police did not respond to questions from Bay Harbour News about Saunders’ concerns, and whether they have looked at footage from other CCTV cameras.
Saunders said she believed the community was “sick” of the break ins.
“It’s frustrating that we don't have more people caught on cameras by the port company or the police. Why do we have all these cameras if we can’t support the community that’s being affected?” she said.
In the latest break in on Thursday, October 16, the intruders entered the club at 4.53am and left again about 5.10am. They took the security camera from the side of the building with them.
Saunders said the $4000 of missing equipment was only noticed the following Monday morning, when volunteers came in to work on the rigging lawn.
They saw the garage’s padlock on the ground and went inside to find the mower and weed eater gone. The equipment had been purchased new at the start of the year.
“It might not be the heist of the Louvre, but it impacts a small club like us,” said Saunders.
The Lyttelton Port Company said police have not asked it for access to its security cameras.
No one has been arrested by police in relation to the five break ins.
Saunders said the club’s seclusion makes it an easy target.
“We’re tucked into a corner, we don’t have any neighbours, it’s an isolated site, so I think the thought process is that no one’s watching.”
She believed the break in was a targeted attack and had been scoped out weeks prior to the offence.
“To know that we have a garage on the side of the club, you had to have walked around the club multiple times to see it.
“And to know that there was a camera up there that doesn’t light up, you would have to know that we have a camera to take it,” she said.
The club had a hose taken earlier this month, while last month joyriders did burnouts on the rigging lawn, damaging it.
Saunders also said much of Naval Point was being tagged with graffiti.
“It would be nice if these people were caught and made public, people might be deterred from doing it, but putting it into the too-hard basket isn’t the answer,” she said.
Saunders is currently trying to set up a youth programme in Lyttelton, aimed to present career options to young people at risk of offending.
“If one of those kids already had a good network of people that were pointing them in the right direction, maybe this wouldn’t happen to small businesses, because these kinds of instances can really dig at you over time,” she said.
