Starting with some recent good traffic catches – for one of our traffic constables.
Deb Hann – Senior Constable at the Cambridge Farmers’ Market. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
A 7am traffic stop last week brought more than he expected. A roadside breath test resulted in the driver returning a breath alcohol level over three times the legal limit. At 3pm one afternoon in late January, that same officer responded to reports of bad driving at a level such that members of the public had intervened.
Evidential breath and blood alcohol procedures were undertaken on the driver. These resulted in a reading four times the legal blood alcohol limit. Both drivers are going through the court process as a result. These cases demonstrate that other drivers may be intoxicated and behind the wheel in our community at any time of day or night. Drive defensively and be aware of your surroundings.
Theft continues to feature in Waipa crime statistics. Over the 7 days prior to writing, Cambridge had 13 reports of dishonesty offending and Te Awamutu had 9 (predominantly shoplifting, petrol drive offs and burglaries). Dishonesty offenders are typically recidivist and catching one, solves past cases and prevents other crimes from occurring. Continued vigilance from our retailers and proactive customer service helps deter and prevent crime. CCTV has been a crucial tool in this.
Sometimes offending reflects a person struggling financially, but it can also point to the presence of drug and alcohol addictions. If retail staff see suspicious behaviour or offending in store, please call 111 immediately.
I mention scams on a regular basis. Unfortunately, it is often our older folk who fall prey and end up losing money. Certain scams have one thing in common, offenders make up reasons why they need financial aid or transfers from their victims and ask for transfers of money via prezzy or paysave cards.
Our most recent victim fell prey to a scam and purchased paysave cards over a short period of time that totalled several thousand dollars. They had ironically been convinced they were protecting their money/bank account from scammers by providing the money to them.
I have also had victims targeted after accepting friend requests from random people on whatsapp. After acting friendly initially, the scammer spun various stories of unfortunate incidents having happened for which they need financial help – financial help is again requested via prezzy cards. Scammers are very convincing, and the victims may even defend the legitimacy of the situation present to others. If you see such behaviour from family or friends, please have a discussion to find out what is going on.
