Ram raid at Goldfields Shopping Centre in Thames overnight

The ram raid was reported to police at 3am. Photo / File

Police are investigating a ram raid at Goldfields Shopping Centre in Thames early this morning.

The ram raid was reported to police at 3am after a car was found abandoned in the Mary St shopping centre entrance.

“Initial inquiries indicate that one store in the shopping centre was entered by the offenders with a number of items taken,” a police spokesman said.

“Police have confirmed the car left at the shopping centre had earlier been stolen.

“Inquiries are under way to identify and locate the offenders,” he said.

“Anyone with information which could assist our inquiries is asked to contact Police via 105, quoting file number 230905/2875.

“Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.”

The shopping centre was also the target of a ram raid in July.

An average of two ram raids per day

Ram raids have plagued retailers across New Zealand over the past two years.

According to police figures released in July, there were at least 388 “ram-raid style events” in a six-month period to the end of May, including 99 that remained unsolved.

During the six-month period, police said there were 218 prosecutions for ram raids, while 86 young people were referred to Police Youth Services.

Meanwhile, in 2022, police recorded 516 ram raids around the country.

Police are investigating a ram raid at a Manuaku liquor store overnight. Photo / Hayden Woodward.

National Party police spokesperson says Labour is ‘soft on crime’

Police Minister Ginny Anderson has previously described the stats are ‘unacceptable’.

She told the Herald in July that the level of retail crime is “completely unacceptable” and said the Government was taking steps to get on top of the issue.

“No one should go to work and feel unsafe,” she said in a statement.

“[The steps we’re taking are] including intensive programmes to break the cycle of offending and provide support to retail owners - but we know there is more work we need to do.”

Meanwhile, National’s police spokesman Mark Mitchell rubbed further salt in the wounds of his party’s opposition by reminding the public of Labour’s need to change police minister four times whilst in office.

Damaged shopfront at Hurstmere Rd Superette in Takapuna after a ram raid on the night of August 9.

“This is the sad reality under a soft-on-crime Labour Government,” he told the Herald.

“Labour has delivered a crime wave the country has never been inflicted with before. The only action they have taken has been to reduce the prison population.”

Mitchell said National, should they be elected in October would take public safety seriously and would be “determined on restoring law and order”.

“One of the biggest problems is when they keep absconding or they’re out on the streets, they pose a huge risk to the community and to themselves as well,” he said.