Burglary on the rise as people look for ways to get by

Genevieve Helliwell celebrated her 21^st birthday in May this year with friends and family. She received gifts, both sentimental and practical, which she thought she would keep forever. Three days later, the AUT University student came home to find her room ransacked and her gifts, along with things she had built up over a lifetime, stolen.

“All my jewellery that I was given at birth and when I was a baby, sentimental things, they all went and I was quite angry and upset over that,” Helliwell said.

Helliwell’s flat was one of 6520 offences that were recorded by Auckland police in a 12-month period ending June 2009. This is up 20.5 per cent from the same period the previous year.

There are many factors that contribute to why there has been a rise in the number of break-ins over the past 12 months. Criminologist Juan Tuari has a theory relating to the current economic climate, but said it is not evidential proof.

“One obvious explanation is that the economic recession is driving people into this type of property crime because of increased unemployment. While this may seem commonsensical, it is speculative at best,” Tuari said

Manurewa Senior Sergeant Jason Malcolm said there were 396 burglaries in the area from the beginning of July to the end of September. However these numbers are similar to those reported last year. He said there has been a 25 per cent increase in non-dwelling burglaries, such as school break-ins and commercial areas.

“Manurewa has traditionally seen a high rate of crime. However, this is on par with other areas in Counties Manukau,” Senior Sergeant Malcolm said, before he added they do not report against other Auckland areas because South Auckland has a different economic make up.

Tuari’s argument against his hypothesis is that lower incomes and higher unemployment should result in less demand for the luxury and electronic goods offenders target during burglaries. However, Tuari pointed out people still want the goods that define the good life, even in tough economic times, but were not willing to pay for them.

“With less income, but high levels of desire for consumer goods, it makes sense for people to turn to the black market to purchase these goods at a significantly lower price than via the legitimate market,” Tuari said.

The items taken from Helliwell and the rest of her flatmates seem to echo these predictions. Along with her jewellery, she had her laptop, camera, clothes and around 85 per cent of her 21^st gifts stolen. Her flatmates also had their computers, cameras and iPods stolen. Helliwell’s television and DVD recorder were left untouched, but she said the burglars had only taken things they could carry.

These items correlate with what Insurance Council spokesperson Terry Jordan has heard from claims managers. The most targeted items being claimed on insurance are the small, electrical items of value, such as laptops, cameras and mobile phones. Since the release of the iPhone a few years ago, there has also been a large number of claims made on them as a result of burglary and theft. Like Helliwell’s experience, Jordan says televisions are generally not as popular.

“It’s not easy to carry a 42 inch television out under your arm,” he said.

Helliwell said police seem to have their suspicions about who is committing the burglaries in their area and the offenders are surprisingly young.

“They have a slight idea of who is in the area and who does what crimes. They say they’re quite young, from 10 to 16-year-olds and the gangs try and dominate their own area. [The police say] there’s a group of kids who will do our road then there’s some kids who will do another road. They say they have a fair idea of who it is but the hardest thing is actually catching them,” Helliwell said.

Manurewa Senior Sergeant Murray Smith has only been in the area for a short while, but has already seen issues with young people committing burglaries. He said a lot of them are cutting school and are wandering the streets with nothing to do.

While there are a number of reasons why young people are turning to crime, Senior Sergeant Murray Smith said the main reason is to get money, as well as prove themselves to the groups and gangs in the area, who seem to be teaching them the tricks of the trade.

“There’s the attitude that younger kids won’t be dealt with as badly,” Senior Sergeant Smith said.

While there are no “hard and fast rules”, Tuari said young people tend to stay close to home to commit offences; rules Senior Sergeant Smith can agree to. This is because they are familiar with the area and know the quickest ways to escape. The latter is especially important because a lot of offenders do not have the ability to get away from a scene quickly.

“Most have bikes. They don’t have cars and they don’t have money to catch a bus. Some of these guys are 12-13 years old.

“There’s a lot of walkways and alleys that connect streets around the area and they know them. It’s very quick to disappear on a bike.”

According to Jordan, a lot of burglary claims that are processed are from houses with little or no security.

“It’s almost as if they don’t care [about being burgled].

“They very rarely go near places with dogs. The more you target-harden you house, the less likely you will get burgled. If all else fails go buy a dog. A big one.”

The recent police statistics showed only 621 of the 6520 burglaries this year have been resolved; less than 10 per cent. Unfortunately, Helliwell does not fall into this category.

She was not insured when her house was burgled and has been slowly replacing things ever since. She borrowed her dad’s laptop until she saved up enough to buy a new one but has done without a camera, jewellery or a lot of her wardrobe. However the cost and hassle of replacing things is not her main concern.

“The biggest thing I found was the invasion of privacy. Someone went through my stuff. That really made me sick. It’s just the sick thing of someone going through your stuff,” she said.

While the police have not caught the people who broke in to her flat, she said her flatmate got a lead when someone answered his stolen phone last week.  The person who answered said they received it from a store in Henderson but hung up when they heard it was stolen. Even with the lead, Helliwell said it will be hard to find them.

“I guess the next step is to call the police but really what can they do? I suppose it’s not high on their priority list and to be honest there’s a lot bigger crimes out there.”