Security issue: Ram raid

Results of a ram raid

Ram raid is a particular technique for burglars to gain access to primarily commercial premises, by means of driving -usually stolen- vehicles into locked or closed entrances, exits, windows, or walls.

Description

This act has occurred since at least the mid 1930s. The term came into widespread use after a series of such raids in Belfast in 1979 that was covered in news reports and in countries such as Australia that inspired a series of similar crimes.

Notably, large trucks are used to break into technology companies and steal high-value equipment for resale on the black market.

Out of town retail parks and industrial parks are often targets due to their largely deserted nature after day time business hours, together with the relatively high-value products often on sale (e.g. electronics).

In recent years, ram raiding with excavators/diggers to target ATM machines, has risen significantly.

Contributing circumstances

Known circumstances to influence the likelihood or effect of ram raid are presented in the table below:

Contributing Circumstance	Influence	Description
Lack of surveillance.	Decreases risk of detection.	A low level of surveillance, particularly round-the-clock surveillance, decreases the perceived risk of detection for a perpetrator and thereby increases the attractiveness.
High levels of ram-raid in the vicinity.	Increases likelihood of targeting.	The distance to known places where offenders live matters. As Ram raid is is mostly an act that is committed spontaneously, without much planning , the crime has a highly situational character. These kinds of crimes are usually committed closer to the criminal's home than pre-meditated crimes. This means that if the crime is situated nearby, the criminals are most likely situated nearby also and the likelihood of them selecting the new location for working area increases.
High levels of unemployment	Increases likelihood of targeting	High levels of unemployment are associated with higher levels of burglary. As burglary by ram raid and other means of entering are not distinguished, this is assumed to be valid for ram raid too.
Location in suburban area or satellite town or near access route to city	Perceived more vulnerable	Ram-raiders often travel out of the security-conscious city areas to the softer targets of the suburbs. Police sources and retailers’ data show that the satellite towns around many cities suffer a high proportion of attacks (the main roads which lead to these districts are common sites for the location of out-of-town superstores, and provide a further attraction to the ram raiders).
Presence of ATMs or (attractive) shops	High attractiveness	Almost any type of premises is a potential target for ram raiding, but ATMs and shops that contain electronical equipment, sports clothing, fashion clothing, jewellery, or cigarettes (usually supermarkets or cash and carry warehouses) are particularly popular targets

Socio-economic circumstances

Although there is no real scientific consensus with respect to the causal relationship between the socio-economic background and property crime like robberies or (ram)raids, Australian research, for example, illustrates that long term unemployment amongst young male adolescents has a substantial effect on property crime rates.

Enthorf and Spengler(2002) find that planning-intense offences like breaking and entering, robbery (ram raids) and violence respond relatively slow to changes in the socio-economic conditions compared to other types of crime like drug and alcohol abuse and violent crime. According to the authors, this may reflect that in a first response to unfortunate social and economic developments some of the affected might become attracted to alcohol and drug abuse, which in a later phase has to be financed with criminal activities by committing property crimes like breaking and entering.

Impacts

Economic impact

Ram raids lead to considerable costs in both a direct (primary) and a indirect (secondary) way. Direct costs of ram raids come in the form of:

• Preventive costs in anticipation of ram raids (e.g. security measures, insurance);
• Material and immaterial costs as a consequence of ram raids (e.g. physical damage, repairments, medical costs, mental harm); and
• Responsive costs to ram raids (e.g. the costs of detection and prevention, persecution, support trial, etc.).

In addition, the secondary economic impact of criminal offences has to be considered. Violent crime not only leads to financial or physical damage and prevention costs, but also indirectly influences the local/regional and national economy of a country. According to Detotto and Otranto ,“crime acts like a tax on the entire economy: it discourages domestic and foreign direct investments. On a more local and regional level, economists define economic impact on business, property value, tourism and quality of life (social capital).

Mobility impact

A location or building has a higher risk for ram raid when it is easily accessible by large trucks. In order to prevent ram raids, locations which are more likely to suffer from ram raids (banks etc.) could be protected against ram raid by making it less accessible to large trucks. However, that would have an impact of the mobility and accessibility in general of that area. For example, one could lower the accessibility of a street for large trucks by putting a barrier on a certain height which allows person cars but not larger trucks or buses, or by making the street narrower. That would also have an impact on the accessibility of e.g. normal public transport (buses) or delivery of goods to shops with trucks. This can be an undesirable side effect of such measures on mobility.

Safety impact

As ram raid is actually a form of burglary, not robbery, the act is usually performed when the shop is unattended, thus ruling out accidental injuries to the personnel. The damage to the shop is usually extensive, which has direct consequences for the extent the shop is able to perform its safety functions, such as

• shelter from the environment (weather)
• prevention and repression of incidents (fires, floods, air quality, etcetera)
• constructional safety
• facilities to assure a timely retreat to a safe environment for the people present in case of incidents (Evacuation Management).

Measures

Potential measures that can mitigate the likelihood or impact of breaking and entering include:

• Target hardening can greatly increase the effort needed for criminals to enter the object and thereby reduce the attractiveness of an object. [Bollard]]s and roller shutters can greatly increase the effort and time needed for a ram raider to enter the premises, thereby increasing the risk of detection and reduce the attractiveness for and likelihood of burglary.
• Surveillance can be effective to detect crime and if overt, to deter potential criminals by raising the perceived risk of apprehension. It can incur high costs if implemented as dedicated observers, either on location or remote. A more natural form of surveillance is surveillance by the inhabitants (also known as 'natural surveillance'), which can also be effective, provided that the commercial area is inhabited and the inhabitants have a good surveillability.
• Reaction force is needed to make detection measures, such as alarms or surveillance, effective.
• Directing traffic flows
  

  A bollard (and two big flower boxes which can also function as vehicle stoppers) in front of a shop to deter ram raiders.
  can be effective in preventing traffic to be able to get into a ramming position. A CPNI guide [1] gives, from page 18 and further, some practical advice how design of traffic flows can reduce the risk of ramming.
• Target removal can reduced ram raiding by for example providing means of easily removing the valuables from the store at night.