PHOTO
Security camera footage from recent ram raids shows the lengths thieves will go to steal little to no cash.
In one of the raids on a fish and chip shop in Halswell, a car is driven up against the shop front before an offender is caught on camera trying to kick in the door to gain entry. When that fails, the car is then driven into the door again and a man enters the shop, grabs the till and runs off.
It was one of a spate of nine ram raids on businesses, including Westfield mall in Riccarton, late last month.
Police say they do not know if the raids are linked.
Halswell Seafood Centre owner Anson Chen said the till was “pretty much empty”. But the damage was estimated at $5000, which he understood his landlord would have to deal with.
His other business, Noodle Delights next door, was also ram-raided.
The thief left the till after seeing it was empty, Chen said.
The damage meant the fish and chip had to open later than normal.
“It’s just quite terrible that it’s happened later in the week. Friday is the busiest day of the week,” he said.
A police spokesperson said they were still trying to determine whether the raids were connected to break-ins at two other Halswell Rd businesses in the early hours of the same morning, a break-in at outdoors clothing shop Earth Sea Sky in Addington on June 23, a ram raid at Westfield Riccarton on June 25, a ram raid at The Hub Hornby on June 30, a ram raid at Chemist Warehouse South City on July 1, and at Noel Leeming Hornby Mega Centre on July 2.
Police figures released to The Star show its retail crime unit has responded to 1100 ram raids, smash and grabs and other shoplifting incidents since it was launched on July 14 last year.
Sergeant Melissa Shaw said the unit had laid charges against 272 people. Three hundred trespass notices have also been served, she said.
The unit focuses on “prolific” and “high-risk” offenders who account for a large proportion of thefts in the city, Shaw said.
She said police had heard from businesses the retail crime unit was making a difference.
“One of the key benefits of the team is the ability for our staff to strengthen relationships with business owners,” she said.
“We remain committed to tackling retail offending and continuing to progress work with our local businesses.”
Separate data from Statistics NZ shows there were 158 adults sentenced in Canterbury courts for retail theft in 2025, the highest number since 2017. There were 111 adults sentenced for retail theft in Canterbury in 2024, 130 in 2023, and 65 in 2022.
The Hub Hornby centre manager Jason Marsden said he had seen retail crime plateau as police prosecutions rose over the year, but he believed the main benefit of the retail crime team had been streamlining the reporting process for businesses.
“For the last year or so, I can’t say that we’ve seen a dramatic increase or a dramatic decrease,” he said.
Despite The Hub being targeted by a ram raid last month, Marsden said he did “not think things are spiking”.
Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young said the retail crime team was critical to reducing offending.
“Retail crime has come down over the last year,” she said.
“Having a crime unit reduces crime in the city because they’re really focused on who the individuals are that are offending in the stores, and then they can actually target and work with them.”