Security issue: Raid

Security camera footage of a raid

Raid is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value from a commercial venue by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. For the crime of forceful theft from individuals, see robbery, for the crime of burglary by forcing entrance by use of ramming with vehicles, see Ram raid.

Description

Although the number of robberies from commercial establishments is only about 21% of all robberies, the impact of those robberies is high, affecting primarily personnel, but also clients and bystanders and they can excess to very violent forms. The act of raiding knows several forms:

• Straight: Demanding money immediately upon entering a store.
• Customer: Demanding money some time after entering a store and engaging in the act of making a purchase.
• Merchandise robbery: A less common type is which involves the forcible taking of goods from a store.

Contributing circumstances

Known circumstances to influence the likelihood or effect of 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 burglary in the vicinity.	Increases likelihood of targeting.	The distance to known places where offenders live matters. On average, burglars travel 2,6 km to commit their crimes and the odds of a neighbourhood’s being chosen increases by a factor of 1.67 for every kilometre closer to the burglar’s home it is located.
High levels of unemployment	Increases likelihood of targeting	High levels of unemployment are associated with higher levels of burglary.
Low levels of ownership	Decreases the inhibitions for committing the crime	Uncertainty of ownership can reduce responsibility and increase the likelihood of crime and anti-social behaviour going unchallenged.
High expected levels of drug- or alcohol abuse	Reduces inhibitions for crime	The presence of regular abusers of alcohol or drugs has a strong correlation with the occurrence of burglary, often thought to be caused by the need for financing an addiction. Studies show that about 40% of all burglary is committed under the influence of alcohol.
Long reaction times or inadequate action of reaction force.	Decreases likelihood of apprehension	Untimely or inappropriate reactions to violence lead to a perception of little control, which will increase perceived risk for the public and decrease perceived risk for the perpetrators. Also, reducing the impact of an assault (by timely intervention) will also be impossible and lead to greater effects of incidents.
High percentage of single family detached homes	Increases the perceived reward and vulnerability	Single family detached houses are often attractive targets–with greater rewards – and more difficult to secure because they have multiple access points .
Large residential areas	Increases attractiveness of area	The number of residential units in a neighbourhood influences the chance of this neighbourhood to be chosen by burglars. When the number of residential units in a neighbourhood increases by 1000, the odds of being chosen rises by a factor of 1.35.
Increased ethnic heterogeneity	unknown	Ethnic heterogeneity is associated with higher levels of burglary. A study showed that an increase of 10% in heterogeneity in a neighbourhood makes it a factor 1.13 more likely to be chosen by burglars.
High amounts of traffic	Increases the visibility of targets	Houses near major thoroughfares are more likely to catch the attention of burglars passing by. Moreover, it is more difficult to distinguish residents and visitors from strangers in heavily traveled areas.
Multiple accesses and exits to neighbourhood	Decreases the risk of apprehension	Multiple access ways, particularly when limited in surveillance, provide good access and exit opportunities for criminals. Alleys, for example, provide both access and escape for burglars, and limit visibility to neighbours. In addition, large side yards facilitate access to the backs of houses.

• Secluded location
• Limited personnel
• valuables
• deserted times

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 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 (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

Social impact

• psychological

Economic impact

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

• Preventive costs in anticipation of raids (e.g. security measures, insurance);
• Material and immaterial costs as a consequence of raids (e.g. physical damage, repairs, medical costs, mental harm); and
• Responsive costs to 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).

Measures

• Surveillance
• Reaction force
• Target hardening
• Access control
• Reducing attractiveness (no money in register)
• Increasing chance of apprehension