A smash and grab is a particular form of

burglary Burglary, also called breaking and entering (B&E) or housebreaking, is a property crime involving the illegal entry into a building or other area without permission, typically with the intention of committing a further criminal offence. Usually ...

or looting that involves smashing a barrier, usually a

display window A display window, also a shop window (British English) or store window (American English), is a window in a shop displaying items for sale or otherwise designed to attract customers to the store. Usually, the term refers to larger windows in t ...

in a shop or a showcase, grabbing valuables, and then making a quick getaway, without concern for setting off alarms or creating noise. Typically, display windows and showcases that are in enclosed areas, such as

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

s and

office building An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...

s, are less vulnerable to smash and grab raids than those on open streets – particularly where the streets are poorly lit or unobserved (such as premises in pedestrian subways or unstaffed transport facilities). Recent smash and grab crimes, called

ram-raiding Ram-raiding is a type of burglary in which a heavy vehicle is driven into the windows or doors of a building, usually a department store or jeweller's shop, to allow the perpetrators to loot it. Etymology The Oxford English Dictionary notes ...

, have also involved ramming a pickup truck through the walls of a

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...

or gas station in order to remove the ATM from the premises and recover the cash. Smash and grab raids can occur in many scenarios, both in broad daylight and at night, and the perpetrators can range from experienced thieves to impulsive vandals. The greatest cost of smash and grab raids can often be in replacing the windows or walls, which can sometimes far exceed the cost of the goods that are stolen. Smash-and-grab attack in Oakland

Smash-and-grab thefts also occur with vehicles: a thief breaks a vehicle window and takes something from inside.

Deterrence

There are several approaches to deterring smash and grab raiders. Shopkeepers can securely tether their goods, and make the tethering obvious to the onlooker. They can also avoid displaying goods of value in windows, an approach that has the disadvantage of reducing the attractiveness of the display to customers. Additionally, shopkeepers can strengthen window glass, to the extent that it can withstand, without breaking, being hit by the implements that smash and grab raiders are likely to use, such as

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

s, and

scaffolding Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other human-made structures. Scaffolds are widely u ...

poles. Smash and grab raids became common in the 1930s, and were particularly prevalent in the 1940s, but decreased in frequency as shopkeepers took to strengthening their windows and/or fitting protective

grille Grill or grille may refer to: Food * Barbecue grill, a device or surface used for cooking food, usually fuelled by gas or charcoal, or the part of a cooker that performs this function * Flattop grill, a cooking device often used in restaurants, ...

s. By the 1950s, forced entry to shops was being effected by using

car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

s and grappling irons to pull window bars off windows, a precursor to the 1980s phenomenon of

References

{{reflist Crimes

Deterrence

See also

References