Ramraids on Christchurch Vaping Outlets and the Police's Struggle to Modernise
In the wake of a spree of ramraids and increased reporting of knife crime and family violence, both Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Police Minister Ginny Anderson have doubled down on the need to resource Police in their fight against crime.
Yet, there is a question mark over whether they are merely tinkering at the edges of the problem, rather than tackling the deeper issue of reforming Police culture to ensure it can quickly adopt new technologies and move towards evidence-based frontline policing that will actually make a difference to people’s perception of safety at the community level.
Pictured: Damage done to the northern entrance of The Hub in Hornby following a ramraid on 28 April this year.
In this article, The Wigram examines:
the attacks on the city’s vaping retail outlets;
deep structural issues in the Police bureaucracy slowing or preventing the uptake and rollout of new technology and frontline feedback. It speaks to a former insider on the cultural barriers; and
data technology issues in relation to 501 deportees, a stolen bicycle pilot, and school violence.
The Ramraids and Vaping Retailers
A source said a car smashed through the front entrance of The Hub near Starbucks and then the offenders failed to break into Cosmic. The car then smashed its way through the mall’s northern entranceway (above) and drove across to Shosha, a vaping retailer, on Main South Road. It failed to enter there too.
On TVNZ’s Q & A, Ginny Anderson argued that greater reporting was a driver in the uptick in retail crime (aka ramraids). But in recent weeks and months, the citizens of Christchurch have been confronted with ramraids at Vaping retail outlets stretching from Linwood in the city’s east to Hornby in the west during March and April. This unnerving uptick included attacks in March on:
Hoopers
The Vape Shed (attempted)
Vapology on Hills Road - a ramraid involving 12 offenders.
In April, the spree continued at:
The Vape Shed in Riccarton - involving 10 offenders. Entry was gained using a hammer.
Vapology in Riccarton
Vapology on Hills Road
Cosmic in the Hub and Shosha - attempted.
Pictured: Damage done by a ramraid to Vapo in Westfield Mall in Riccarton in May.
In May, the attacks continued at:
Vapo Shop at Westfield Mall in Riccarton - ramraid (above)
Vapourium in Riccarton - hole in window
The ramraid on The Hub was notable. A source said a car smashed through the front entrance of The Hub near Starbucks and then the offenders failed to break into Cosmic. The car then smashed its way through the mall’s northern entranceway (above) and drove across to Shosha, a vaping retailer, on Main South Road. It failed to enter there too.
In the aftermath, The Hub has installed concrete blocks at both entranceways to conceivably prevent further attacks. The impact such a sight has on the public’s perception of safety is up for debate.
Pictured: Concrete blocks placed outside the northern entranceway to The Hub in the aftermath of the 28 April ramraid.
On Tuesday, Hipkins reassured viewers of TVNZ Breakfast, the work the government was doing was “to ensure Police are well-resourced and well-supported so that they can crackdown on” retail crime. They include investment in keeping 1800 more Police, fog cannons, a secure radio network and youth intervention schemes in Christchurch and elsewhere.
Anderson claimed that the rise in gang members in March and April of 268 new recruits was due to more 501 deportees arriving from Australia. Yet, when Tame asked her how many 501s had come across the ditch, she told Q & A she didn’t have the data.
However, despite the “surge” in policing numbers, it is questionable whether the government is resourcing the Police where it is most needed, because it (and the Police) appears to lack modern information technology systems to make sense of the masses of crime data required to make effective law change and policy shifts.
This “knowledge gap” was exposed twice by Jack Tame during Q & A’s interview with Ginny Anderson on the weekend. Anderson claimed that the rise in gang members in March and April of 268 new recruits was due to more 501 deportees arriving from Australia. Yet, when Tame asked her how many 501s had come across the ditch, she told Q & A she didn’t have the data.
Tame then asked Ginny Anderson about the new policy that will allow Police to impound vehicles used in a fleeing-driver pursuits. When asked what percentage of fleeing drivers are driving stolen vehicles, she admitted she didn’t know, saying “Police attend a whole range of instances of a stolen vehicle”.
From watching the interview, voters might be forgiven for questioning the Police Minister’s knowledge gaps on 501s and stolen vehicles, but it is possible she doesn’t know, because this critical data doesn’t exist, and because the Police don’t have the time or resources to find out.
501s Offending - Data Not Available
Police Headquarters confirmed it couldn’t reveal the criminal offending of any of the 2845 individuals, as that “would require a manual review of each related Police file”.
501s have been blamed for the exponential growth of gangs in the country and the proliferation of high-end narcotics and gangland style executions and gunbattles in New Zealand.
In January, The Wigram asked the Police for data concerning the criminal background of 501 deportees from Australia. It asked whether they had committed rape, grievous bodily harm or kidnappings, abused a minor, and a variety of criminal offences.
Police confirmed “2,845 people were deported from Australia between 1 January 2015 and 30 November 2022” and the yearly breakdown of deportee numbers.
However, Police Headquarters confirmed it couldn’t reveal the criminal offending of any of the 2845 individuals, as that “would require a manual review of each related Police file”. It confirmed “[t]he information is not collated in a manner that separates deported criminals by the "reasons" or section of the Australian Migration Act they were deported under (i.e. s501, s116, s109).”
(Later, by accident, The Wigram found that some of this information did indeed exist. See below.)
Without this “big picture” data, it is not possible for the public to know the criminal background of deportees and for Police to assess links between Australia’s deportation policy and the rise in gang numbers other than at an anecdotal level.
“Online Bicycle Register“ Pilot - Data Not Available
Police confirmed it “does not record statistics for recovered stolen bikes. Information for this data would require a manual search through the National Intelligence Application database of each theft complaint to look for narrative updates regarding stolen bicycles”
In April last year, the Christchurch City Council announced Canterbury Police had partnered with a bicycle recovery service 529 Garage to set up a stolen bicycle register. The Wigram wanted to judge the success of the register. On January 24, the City Council confirmed 6,994 bicycles had been registered.
The Wigram then asked Police for statistics “regarding the number of bike thefts and recovery of stolen bicycles reported in the Chch metropolitan area since April 2022. In particular, I'd like to see whether the bike registration scheme has had any impact on the recovery aspect”.
The Police Media Team wrote it didn’t have the information “on hand” and passed the request onto Ministerial Services.
About three weeks later Police confirmed it “does not record statistics for recovered stolen bikes. Information for this data would require a manual search through the National Intelligence Application database of each theft complaint to look for narrative updates regarding stolen bicycles”.
Without the data on stolen bicycles returned to their owners, it is impossible to judge whether the pilot is working and whether, therefore, government should fund its rollout across the country.
School Violence Data - Not Available
“Police would have to review each event located at a school to make a determination whether the event was related to a request to remove a student for an offence. Other offences may be reported by schools (for example, burglary, assaults) that may not relate to removal of a student or a student offender. Therefore, your questions are refused under section 18(g) of the OIA as the information is not held”
In April, The Wigram asked the Ministry of Education for Christchurch-wide data on “the number of Police callouts (to remove students for criminal behaviour) for each school for each term in 2022. AND please [add] next to each term what that criminal behaviour was.” A similar question was posed regarding term 1 of 2023.
In response, Police wrote “When Police communication centres receive a request for service, an event is entered in the Communication and Resource Deployment (CARD) system. Events may come via many sources, not just via phone, and may include officer-discovered events.”
“Police would have to review each event located at a school to make a determination whether the event was related to a request to remove a student for an offence. Other offences may be reported by schools (for example, burglary, assaults) that may not relate to removal of a student or a student offender. Therefore, your questions are refused under section 18(g) of the OIA as the information is not held”.
Again, without this data on Police callouts, it is impossible to know in the “big picture” the scale of violence in Christchurch metropolitan schools.
Tying it Together
In all three situations, the Police were unable to release the requested data as that would require them to manually search all of its files. It just doesn’t have, currently, the technology to easily make this data available. Consequently, that impacts the Police’s ability to appear transparent and open, and its ability to make informed policy decisions in the realm of law and order and to ensure the government makes the right law changes and puts funding where it is needed most.
An examination of the government’s past 3 budgets since 2021 has shown it has under-invested in funding new technologies in the Police. But that is only part of the issue. A former Police insider has expressed concerns about a Police culture that is constraining its ability to use and rollout new tech.
Inside Knowledge
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