We recently had reports of boy racers causing problems in the Karāpiro road area. With good community support and information, we were able to identify a few vehicles involved and have already impounded two of them for 28 days for the offence of Sustained Loss of Traction. The drivers will be held accountable and supports put in place where required to help keep them on the right track.
Burnouts occur when a vehicle is deliberately driven in such a way as to cause sustained loss of traction of the wheels, burning rubber and often to the point of tyres popping. This antisocial activity causes significant noise and air pollution for local residents as well as causing debris and damage to the road.
Depending on the number of vehicles present, disorderly behaviour can also break out. We understand that the combination of these factors is causing great annoyance to people in our area.
As this example shows, with a combined effort between police and you, our community, we can hold the drivers to account, see what is going on with them and work to prevent reoffending.
This activity often occurs after dark. If you see boy racers engaging in burnouts, call 111. All it takes is for one driver to lose control and injury could happen.
While I am on the topic of calling 111, I am an advocate of see something, do something. Twice recently I have been told about things after the fact, that should have been reported at the time.
One was a vehicle dumped in a reserve near Karāpiro that had all the appearances of being (and was subsequently confirmed) as stolen. The second was the case of a male who appeared to be under the influence of something, seen walking in a live lane on the Waikato expressway at night time at a time when there was a lot of traffic.
In the case of the stolen car, the longer it was left, the greater risk there was of it being re-stolen, items removed from inside and important forensic evidence being lost. With the male on the Waikato Expressway, the risks to himself and motorists were obviously huge. I remind all again to not rely on the expectation that someone else will alert police to a situation in progress. When we get multiple calls for the same incident, our staff are able to gather much more information and clarity about what is going on and the true seriousness can better be assessed.
On a final note, our local Community Patrollers have commenced a trial of daytime foot patrols around town. Police already conduct regular foot patrols however as you can imagine, we cannot be everywhere, all the time. It is awesome to have the patrollers’ support and I am sure the retailers appreciate the extra eyes and ears. Have a great week, Deb
