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We here at E2NZ were shocked to hear that looting and burglaries are rampant in some parts of earthquake damaged Christchurch, with some people’s homes hit on multiple occasions.

Yet strangely this information is not making it into the mainstream media, despite repeated requests from journalists.

We are mindful of news reports from earlier in the year that “police staff in the city centre have clamped down on any reports of looting“ and wonder if this is still the case, this being an election year after all (read our blog Sharp Rise In Burglaries After Christchurch Quakes from 7 November 2010)

During the teapot tape debacle John Key made made an appallingly arrogant comment. He said that police had time on their hands to deal with his complaint because there’d been a drop in ‘recorded crime’. He refused to back down or apologise:

When asked yesterday whether it was an appropriate use of police resources to investigate his complaint over the teapot tape – National’s leader said police had time on their hands.

The comment has upset the Police Association, but Mr Key’s not backing away from it…

…Mr Key says he’s confident police will investigate what’s most important.“

This is what is more important to the people of  Christchurch Mr Key, get on to it.

Here’s a selection of posts from what the Trade Me forum , this is what the people of Christchurch are saying about their burglary and looting problems:

6 Nov

Our house has been burgalled at least 10 times in the last 3 weeks. We no longer live there as it is marked for demolition and haven’t lived there since Feb 23rd as it was Red Stickered…We have secured the house itself as it is constantly hit by Low Life Scum.Today I went around and now the Garage has been busted into…How low will these Low Life Thieves stoop..
The next thief to set a foot on our property will be shot or at the least harmed with a lifelong scar for their disgusting lack of any human morals..
Who else is having problems with these low Life arseholes?

Mine has been broken into 4 times. Each time steps up a little, with more damage everytime. Mine isn’t red stickered, just not habitable at the moment, so will be back living in it at some stage. Not good for the insurance though. I’m seriously thinking about borrowing a dog to protect the property.

umm we are in the same boat too, we are in shirley, house is inhabitable and will eventually be demolished, we have been done over six times by these low life scum…….our house is empty and they have not targeted the house but broke in to garage, tipped everything out, they even stole the lock and deadbolt of the garage door, we have had plants taken from the gardens, our big gas callifont was also stolen of the side of the house, they then came back in another visit, took the top trellis of our fence and our letterbox and also stole the big wrought iron gates as well, we also have a self contained flat,on the same property, they stole the shower curtain and the shower nozzle and also stole all our pebbles out the garden taking with them the big shadesales……low life scum, both sets of neighbours heard nothing at all, police have fingerprinted and all i say is how can people be so cruel, we have lost our home, we were orange and now green but in the blue part, we have had our payments from eqc, we are over the cap, told insurance company to hurry up and assess our property as theres going to be nothing left on it or of it when they come to assess

ours was empty and they stole the water cylinder and the double garage door – now that would have been a challenge!!

A friend saw a whole bunch of household items lined up on the footpath. Took a photo of the car & number plate and the thieves took off leaving all the stuff behind when she asked what they were doing. Broad daylight. Fricken unbelievable blatant cheek. Hope they get caught n busted big time. It’s Christmas out there for crims.

Now, This is the sort of story the TV companies should be doing a story on. Put some pressure on the police to step up their patrols.

So far we’ve had small things taken from outside our empty Dallington property and in the scheme of things missing plants, door mats and the heavy metal safety lid off the storm water isn’t that big a deal. However it is just a matter of time before someone breaks in and trashes the place. I am checking our house everyday and are concerned that I may walk in on thieves one day. I refuse to go by myself now and take my husband with me each time. Talk about kicking you when you’re down. People need to start reporting this to the police so they can step up area patrols.

7 Nov

Hi ***** and ******,
I am a reporter at The Star newspaper in Christchurch and would like to talk to you about your house. It sounds awful what you’ve been through and think the issue could use more coverage- might get some action! If you are interested in talking contact me on 364 7415 or email anna.turner@starcanterbury.co.nz.

Hmmmmm makes me wonder as I had a weird experience the other week. Came into town for an appt. Left the kids at a friends. Came back from appt and went to swing into a neighbours drive so I could park on the road and there was a people mover down the drive. The guy comes up and starts asking questions if so and so lives there. I said no, not at all. Thought it was weird how he came to me out on the road like that too. Then he asked if the person who lives there knew the other person. I was like ummmm no! and so it went. Then he started saying he was a debt collector. Never gave his name, no ID and no clip board or paperwork or anything. And dressed too casually. And so it went. Then he said he was from Aucks and the people mover was a rental and him and two mates were going round the south island on bikes. It was so weird and then he wanted the name and phone number of the person living in the house. I was like ummm no! He saw a sticker on the window and asked if that is where the person worked. I was like why yes, yes it is, you ring them and ask to speak to the tenant. He seemed worried then and was like well I have to go and get the people mover back and I will let you get up the drive. I was like I am not going up the drive, I’m going over there (pointed casually several doors down) I just park up here coz down there is a shared drive and nowhere to park my car. So I walked off (annoyed I had nothing to write the rego down with and a bad memory) next door and sat there for like half an hour chatting and having a cuppa and telling my friend what happened.

Then when we went to leave, the kids and I went back to the car to load up and my friend came out too and we stood there talking for a bit. Next minute the same people mover came out of the shared driveway right next door to my friends drive, this time with his two mates in it, that were not in it before down that other drive!

Oh and then that evening I told the person that lived in the house where the guy came out of and they said that the night before after around 11.30pm, there was a people mover sitting in the drive with the lights on well nudged in for several minutes and it looked like a honda. I said funny that coz this vehicle was a honda too!

I had a couple of heavy items stolen from my garden. Moved to Aidenfield and in the first week had my car stolen from outside my home with all the house keys from the red zoned property in it. Guess we won’t be seeing those any time soon.

yeah – the police are a bunch of drongos as the best of times – they couldnt even manage to arrest the priks that broke in here – even though we gave them their full names and all…

BUT – we havent had any problems from azzholes nicking stuff (go murphy) since we put a camera on the front gate – one on the house roof and one on the garage + 3 dummy cameras along the driveway… (rural property) – so they seem to work pretty well as a deterrent….

A woman from work was doing overtime last Sunday, she stayed on to do a bit extra on top and went home and found she had been burgled. It was during the day as well. Neighbours said they didn’t see anything. You would think that someone would see someone one walking down a drive with a couple tvs.

There is a security company monitoring my old street (Ive relocated) because of people ripping off houses. Its incredible what some people will do. When I put my broken and contaminated contents (contaminated from sewage, liquefaction & mould) into the skips, I had people rumaging through them.

My nieces home in Woolston got burgled today.

There are a few well known gang? houses in that neck of the woods. The police are going around the scrap dealers yards , was on tv the other day. They did find some problems I believe. Owner was shown walking away tight lipped.

10 Nov

I went to check on our Dallington property today and it has been broken into again looks like they have been down the whole street

14 Nov

gee the newspaper must be full of court news about the police catching these guys,,not…send donuts

Ive just found out our rental in Waltham has been broken into. Are you aloud to claim on oven, dryer and hot water cyclinder (items that were taken) as we still have insurance on this property.

These burglaries, being so easy to do (comparatively speaking ) are setting so many people up for lives in crime. Once they start they will find it hard to stop, they have had an easy introduction. Whilst no one is to blame for earthquake break-ins, ie’ lack of security, I feel that the Police have got this wrong by placing such a low emphasis on catching burglars in general. They do much psychological damage and it is a springboard to bigger crimes.

20 Nov

A friends place got broken into Friday out in redwood- took heaps! They aren’t in a scabby area or anything or overly flash either.
SCUM!!

Justa thought. What about setting up a community watch type of thing. I am very near a red zone and would be more than willing to walka round to check everything ok. Just a thought

The police won’t like that and will jump at the first chance to stop anyone doing so.

My sisters place got overhauled in Avonhead last week- took Ipads, Iphones, Lap tops, Tvs, Stereos, Ipod touches you name it….creapiest thing my sister said about it was they had ben through her underwear draw which made her feel far more violated then any of the other stuff.
seems they could have been targeted from a garage sale the week before….

21 Nov

Hi, my name is Keith Lynch and I’m a Press reporter. I’d be quite keen to speak to anyone on here whose house has been burgled multiple number of times. My email is keith.lynch@press.co.nz if you want to email me.

You may also be interested in our other blogs

Looting Continues In Christchurch

September 14, 2010

Ten days since the Christchurch earthquake and looting is still going on in the city. News reports are studiously avoiding the use of the L word (“police staff in the city centre have clamped down on any reports of looting...”) preferring instead to refer to the preying on earthquake victims as ‘burglary.’

A recent report in Stuff tells the heart rending story of two sisters who took a respite from the aftershocks and returned to their home to find wheelbarrow tracks across their ransacked home.

One of the sisters, Elizabeth Shipston, age 21 told Stuff:

“It was crazy. I got a bit upset and a bit teary,” she said. “I was just so amazed that, after such a bad earthquake and the shock, someone could do this.”

She said their house was not structurally damaged in the September 4 quake, but lost two chimneys. To add to her problems, boyfriend Roy Sutherland’s car was stolen from outside the house early yesterday.
“His car was sort of like the final straw. It’s horrible.”

Sounds like the chances of the police finding those responsible are zero to none

Mr Shipston, a former policeman, told his daughters to do their own investigations. After noticing the house smelled of smoke, they searched for cigarette butts, finding two and bagging them for police. None of the family smokes.

A neighbour had reported a black car containing two men and a woman parked outside.

However, it was the following statement that surprised us – there seems to be a lack of a sense of community spirit in some parts of  Christchurch

Miss Shipston said she did not expect her neighbours to know something was wrong. “Neighbours don’t really know each other until something like an earthquake happens.” Read the full report here

But even then one can’t expect them to keep an eye on one’s home.

This is yet another reminder that when a major disaster stikes New Zealand one has to be prepared to look after oneself for many weeks afterwards -  until something resembling the rule of law returns.

Our posts tagged looting