Camera shops’ bid to beat burglars

Press, 4 April 1989, Page 7

Camera shops’ bid to beat burglars

Two Christchurch camera shops will adopt an Auckland-style security system after the fourth smash-and-grab raid in 10 days. Paul’s Camera Shops in Riccarton Road and Papanui Road will be installed with roller door frontages, the latest foil in a losing battle against burglars. "Since we opened 10 years ago we’ve been hit over 30 times. I’m fed up,” the owner, Mr Paul Farrow, said yesterday.

The latest break-in was at 6 a.m. on Sunday. Burglars punched a hole through armour plate glass and left with six video cameras valued at $20,000 from the Riccarton

Road branch. “Both the shops have got reinforcing rods into the footpath to stop a vehicle going through, armour plate glass, infra-red heat sensors, vibration sensors on the windows to pick up hammer blows, and cutting sensors. “But they’ve worked out a way to get through. This time they took a whole sheet Of glass out,” said Mr Farrow. “Aesthetically, the roller door is going to look absolutely terrible. Lots of shops have them in Auckland. I have no choice but to do the same. I have to make the shop impregnable.”

He said it would cost $6OOO to fit the two shops, on top of $20,000 already spent on security. About 15 of the smash and grabs have netted nothing because of the security system. But Sunday’s break showed the burglars knew how to get in.

The police and a security company were alerted by the alarm system, but the offenders had fled by the time they arrived. “They must have cased the place. They wouldn’t have had much time, but they took only the expensive stuff,” said Mr Farrow.