Deb Hann
A Happy New Year to all from me. I am dropping back in this week to give you a bit of an update. I hope you have had a safe and happy festive season with some quality relaxation involved at some stage. Cambridge Police were pleased with a relatively uneventful Christmas holiday period overall.
We were all however deeply saddened at the loss of our Nelson colleague Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming after an incident on New Year’s Eve. Having spent New Year’s Eve myself conducting similar foot patrols over in Raglan, I was certainly reminded of the risks of the job. We were fortunate that no such incidents happened in Raglan however, with crowds being generally well behaved. On my shift, a male was arrested for the wilful damage of a parked police vehicle and a few others received warnings and fines for few breaches of the liquor ban. It was good to see people having a fun but safe celebration and enjoying the fireworks.
In Cambridge and Te Awamutu, New Year’s Eve was good overall. While a quiet one in Cambridge, in Te Awamutu staff were called to deal with three family harm events, two disorderly behaviour incidents, an intoxicated person, boy racers and the theft of a quad bike.
Moving into January, in the past week Cambridge staff have dealt with 11 family harm incidents including assaults, three mental health incidents, four burglaries, three reports of vehicle crimes, threatening behaviour, four traffic crashes, a civil dispute, two breaches of bail, firearms offences, theft, three drivers fleeing from police and there were two incidents of dangerous and careless driving.
In Te Awamutu, staff dealt with 16 family harm incidents some including serious assaults, three incidents of threatening behaviour, eight burglaries, five reports of car crime, four breaches of bail, seven mental health episodes, a fraud matter, three drink drivers and one fleeing driver.
While many people have returned to work this week, school holidays and associated holiday travel continue on our roads.
Please continue to drive safely and defensively. Keep to the speed limit, be patient and only overtake in passing lanes, or when otherwise permitted – and safe – to do so. If you are towing or otherwise travelling at a slower pace, make use of slow vehicle lanes and pull over to let those following pass. Take your time and enjoy the journey.
I will be taking a break next week, but columns will resume as usual thereafter.
