National Threat Assessment 2008. Organised Crime - Politie

Ram raiding
Ram raids have been recorded in LORS since 2005. The numbers of ram r
aids recorded in the past three years were 202, 260 and 221 (in that order).
Major investments have been made recently in the security of potential ram-raid
targets. There was a fear that there might be a shift towards robberies. To what
extent the fall in the number of ram raids in 2007 is connected to the rise in
the number of robberies in 2007 is unclear.
Figure 7 shows the number of ram raids per target category. It is striking that
retailers (jewellers, photographers, electrical goods shops) are the most frequent
victims of ram raids (over 200 out of the 260 ram raids in 2006, compared
to 600 out of the 1900 robberies in that year). Here we may be witnessing
the consequences of the dilemma between accessibility and sufficient
security measures.
Figure 7
Ram raids per target, 2005–2007 (percentages)
Retailers
Financial institutions
Wholesalers, industry, services
Catering and hospitality
Other
2.0 1.5 1.2 0.9
4.0
10.4
7.9 11.2
8.1
2.7
15.4
7.2
75.7 78.1 73.8
2005 2006 2007
Source: KLPD, IPOL: LORS (National Robberies and Ram Raids System)
4.6.4 Criminal organisation
Several criminal organisations are involved in robberies and ram raids in the
Netherlands. Initially, most attention was paid to mobile gangs from Eastern
Europe. They mainly made the news with ram raids on jewellers and camera
shops. The members of these criminal organisations travel back and forth
168 National Threat Assessment 2008 – Organised crime