By Katie Todd of RNZ

Police told retail leaders in Auckland this morning that ram raids are finally starting to trend downwards, as offenders are identified and thwarted by preventative measures.

The news has been welcomed with cautious optimism, although some shopkeepers say it does not stop their fear - or their escalating insurance premiums.

National Retail Investigation Support Unit Manager Matthew Tierney took the stage this morning at Property Council New Zealand’s Recon 22 Retail Conference.

Retailers have been grappling with about 10 ram raids nationwide per week this year.

Tierney said the number of aggravated robberies and burglaries using vehicles to enter had “gone down a lot”.

“We’re cautiously optimistic, I should say ... but there’s certainly a sustained downward trend.

 “When we look at it over a couple of months that’s a good thing, but it’s still early days.”

Tierney could not say exactly how much ram raids had declined, and the police media team were not able to provide RNZ with that data today either.

Yet police have reported hundreds of arrests over ram raids and youth offences in Auckland and Waikato in recent months, with more than 2000 charges laid in the two regions.

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Michael Hill Jeweller in Takapuna, Auckland, was targeted in early October. Photo / Hayden Woodward

Tierney said the ram raids that had occurred recently were less fruitful for the offenders.

Often they were leaving with few or no stolen goods, having encountered fog cannons, bollards and alarms.

 “That’s clearly because retailers are putting things away more securely and they’re hearing and understanding the criminal environment.

“That’s good because it has a deterrent effect as well. If you break in and get nothing, then you’re unlikely to go back.”

The decline in offending came as positive news for Property Council of New Zealand chief executive Leonie Freeman.

Her group of retail property and shopping centre owners and developers has been working with the police to try and get on top of the problem.

Damage done to the Paekākāriki village store and the car used to ram raid it last month. Photo / Bhavesh Morar

“We still know we’ve got a way to go. But there’s progress being made which is very heartening.”

She believed the impact of ram raids on businesses, big and small, could not be overstated.

“This is somebody’s business, it’s their livelihood.

“It’s soul-destroying when this is happening. I don’t want to say, necessarily, that the tide has turned but it’s heartening to see the approach New Zealand police has been taking.”

It is clear the ram raids have left a legacy of fear with store owners.

RNZ visited one in central Auckland today which was hit this week for the third time in a year.

The owner said that was “far too many times”.

He told RNZ he did not want to be identified, but said his insurance premiums could double next year because of the burglaries.

PB Technologies in Newmarket, Auckland, was ram raided last month. Photo / Hayden Woodward

Meanwhile, at another Auckland business that had been struck three times in just over a year, the owner said the downward trend in ram raids was not making him feel any safer.

Also unwilling to be identified, he said he was now worried ram raiders would turn to new forms of crime.

“Just sitting and looking at what’s happening, the security is ramping up across the board and [I’m] trying to stay one step ahead,” he said.

“The preparation I’ve gone to now is actually armed robbery prevention, and measures with equipment and staff protocols.

“I’ve installed a panic room in the store. We’ve had to come together as a group and say ‘what are we going to face next?’.

“If it’s not going to be ram raids, if people are coming into the store, we need to be prepared.”

Tierney said police were not planning to slow down or stop their efforts to prevent ram raids “by any means”

It was heartening to see that preventative measures were working, he said.