Businesses take extra measures to prevent smash-and-grab burglaries

LIMA, N.Y. Rochester is dealing with a real problem of people breaking into small businesses by smashing the front glass doors.

This year it’s happened 20 times in the city, 19 times in the suburbs, and sometimes, the thieves use a stolen car to smash and grab. News10NBC went to Lima to see a product that might stop it.

The huge metal doors open at Lakelands Concrete in Lima. A gantry carries out a giant container of concrete. They’re about to fill metal molds. It only takes seconds to do it. Then after 48 hours to cure, the finished product is called a bollard. It’s several hundred pounds of deterrence.

Todd Clarke: “The round bollards, most of the bollards we have in this style are up at the Rochester airport.”

Todd Clarke is the third generation Clarke to run the plant.

Todd Clarke: “The bollard is meant to stop vehicles from entering into any type of situation.”

Maybe it’s one solution to this. For the past month, we have been investigating the use of stolen cars to smash into street-level businesses so thieves can run into the business and steal money. This video shows that’s what thieves did to the record archive.

Alayna Alderman, Record Archive: “You get a pit in your stomach. And I just don’t understand – there seems to be little to no respect for people’s property.”

Even if a stolen car pushed a bollard over, the car is trapped if the driver tries to run over it.

Todd Clarke: “A bollard is definitely going to deter someone from entering that facility for sure. Once the car hits it would be very difficult to drive over the top of that bollard.”

Clarke says the company has received calls. He’s not sure if they’re directly related to the smash and grabs. A property owner needs a permit to install one. I’ve asked the city to see if any property owner filed a permit application. In 2017, the storefront safety council told the business magazine The Hustle it costs $700 to $900 to install one bollard.