A smash and grab raid or smash and grab attack (or simply a smash and grab) is a particular form of burglary. The distinctive characteristic of a smash and grab, that distinguishes it from other forms of burglary, is its elements of speed and surprise. A smash and grab involves smashing a barrier, usually a display window in a shop or a showcase, grabbing valuables, and then making a quick getaway, without concern for setting off alarms or creating noise. A failed smash and grab raid is indistinguishable from simple vandalism, or malicious damage.[1]
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. Typically, display windows and showcases that are in enclosed areas, such as shopping malls and office buildings, are at less of a risk of smash and grab raids than those that on open streets — particularly where the streets are poorly lit, or unobserved (such as premises in pedestrian subways or unstaffed transport facilities).[1]
The greatest cost of smash and grab raids can often be in replacing the windows, which can sometimes far exceed the cost of the goods that are stolen.[1]
There are several approaches to deterring smash and grab raiders. Shopkeepers can securely tether the goods, and make the tethering obvious to the onlooker. Shopkeepers can avoid displaying goods of value in display windows (an approach which has the disadvantage of reducing the attractiveness of the display to customers). Additionally, shopkeepers can strengthen the glass, to the extent that it can withstand, without breaking, being hit by the portable tools that smash and grab raiders are likely to use, such as hammers, bricks, and scaffolding poles.[1] Shop owners can also install pipe bollards at the store front when cars are used.
Smash and grab raids became common in the 1930s, and were particularly prevalent in the 1940s, but reduced in frequency as shopkeepers took to strengthening their windows, or to fitting protective grilles. By the 1950s, forced entry to shops was being effected by using cars and grappling irons to pull window bars off windows, a precursor to the 1980s phenomenon of ram-raiding.[2][3]
Smash and Grab is also the name given to a technique developed by Charles S. Hoffman and Fred Winston used in molecular biology to rescue plasmids from yeast transformants into Escherichia coli in order to amplify and purify them [4]. In addition, it can be used to prepare yeast genomic DNA (and DNA from tissue samples) for Southern blot analyses or polymerase chain reaction (PCR).