Call for all in Raetihi to help stop street crime

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 11, Issue 531, 12 April 1994, Page 1

Call for all in Raetihi to help stop street crime

Solving Raetihi' s crime problem will come from a holistic approach and it is no use blaming just the police. That was the feeling of the Waimarino Community Board meeting last Thursday, which was attendedby Waimarino Police Sergeant Bob Evans, Hope Vaughn from the Raetihi Businessmens Association and Noeline Churton, Raetihi Night Watch co-ordinator. To get the ball rolling, the board decided to convene a workshop meeting of all interested parties to discuss the Children and Young Persons Act, which is seen by many as part of the problem. Mrs Vaughn told the meeting that most of the petty crime that upset business people and shoppers was done by children and teenagers. People felt the police had no back-up from the justice system because of the Act, she said. Sgt Bob Evans said the Act was very good in most cases but there were parts which left Police with little power, but that the Act was under review. He urged people to tell the police about incidents, even if they felt

nothing was likely to be done. "Even if we can't charge them (a young offender) at least we know who they are and can work with them to try to stop them offending again," he said. Bitter Raetihi people are bitter about the spread of police in the Waimarino, the meeting heard. While one policeman is based in Raetihi, six or seven are based in Ohakune. People are concerned that it can take 40 minutes to get a response if the Raetihi policeman is off duty. "There' s even been times when the Raetihi policeman has walked to a crime because he doesn' t have a car when he' s off duty," said Mrs V aughn. "We've got a lot more problems with young people in Raetihi than Ohakune. They victimise old people and abuse people walking along Seddon Street," said Mrs Vaughn. "I had a five year old swear at me and say 'give us your Reeboks (shoes)." Turn to Page 4

Call for all in Raetihi to help stop street crime

FROMPAGE1 She said Raetihi people wanted the police to walk along Seddon Street occasionally, to show a presence, through the period after the children get dropped off the school bus. "Not every day, just occasionally." "The Rest Home shop closes because the ladies there are not prepared to put up with the kids any more." Contact essential Community Board member Ellen Gould (who is principal of Ohakune Primary School) said as well as contaeting the police, even with minor incidents, people should contact the schools.

She said schools are doing a lot of work in the area of behaviour with the police. 'Tm sure the school would like to know who is causing problems. Raetihi School is working hard on a positive discipline system." She said solving the problem had to involve all parties, the police, the community and the schools that it had to be a holistic approach. "But why are the kids getting worse?" asked Mrs Vaughn. "There' s no easy answer but you can't lay it at the door of one group (the Police)." Board member Bob Peck said there were several causes including television,

educational philosophy, the police, and general public attitude. "But no elderly person deserves what they (some Raetihi pensioners) are putting up with." Mrs Churton from the Night Watch Patrol said they were surprised at the number of children wandering the streets after midnight, though Mrs Vaughn pointed out that this had stopped a lot, since the patrol had been going. Problem all over Sgt Evans said such patrols were now common throughout the country, in the face of what was a national problem - not just in Raetihi. Mrs Vaughn said some patrols in nearby towns had

funding help from the police. Sgt Evans said he could see no change in the foreseeable future in how the Waimarino police staff werespread. "I don't see policing as Ohakune versus Raetihi - we have one police group to cover the Waimarino, with constable Hart specific to Raetihi." He said all other staff are assigned to cover all of the Waimarino. On occasions it could take 40 minutes to respond to a call in Ohakune, because the person on duty may be in Raetihi. "You can go to Auckland and get the same thing - - we're not every where. "What I can assure you

of is that the staff will do their utmost to attend to incidents whereever they happen. I stand behind the staff - they all work very well." "We are a Waimarino Police force and all of us cover Raetihi." He said all staff spend time every day in Raetihi. Mountain police Mrs Vaughn said people were also bitter about there being three policemen up on the mountain, leaving Raetihi unattended. Sgt Evans said at no one time is there more than one policeman on the ski field and that at no time was Raetihi unattended. He said if he had difficulty with staff numbers the mountain was first off the list. He defended the decision

to place staff on the mountain, saying when there were 4500 people on the skifield there were problems, and it was no use trying to catch people as they came off the mountain road. "We can't sit at the bottom of the Mountain Road and search every car." He said on a good day there were more people on the mountain than in Raetihi and Ohakune combined. Mr Peck reiterated the point that Raetihi people wanted a second policeman based in Raetihi, and asked why there was a philosophy that there would not be a second Raetihi policeman. He said the town had had two policemen in the past and it had worked well. John Compton said he believed there had been a 'burn-out' problem with single Raetihi policemen. Sgt Evans said the burnout problems had largely been alleviated by having one Waimarino police force. He said recent staff had left for various personal reasons which had nothing to do with Raetihi. He said when there was a staff vacancy in Ohakune, he never had problems filling the position, but when there was a vacancy at Raetihi, there was always a problem filling the post. With one constable based

there they received an isolation bonus, which made the post easier to fill because it was a financial incentive. If there were two policemen, neither would get the bonus which would make it even harder to fill the posts. Sgt Evans said he did not have the power to change the present staffing structure. Mr Compton said people should work with the police rather than being negative. He said if they could work with the justice department so that offenders did their community work sentence for the good of the local community it would have a better effect in sho wing that something was being done and for the town, both by reducing crime and doing some good work. Mr Peck said the government had to take cognisance of the fact that the poor economic state of the country meant a lot of young people had no jobs and saw no future, which leads to crime. Sgt Evans asked for people to accept the police' s apologies for the times when police communications problems meant incidents where not attended, and asked people to please contact them for any incident, even if they felt nothing would be done.