Squealing rubber, revving engines and the associated aftermath of shredded tyres and rubber marks on the road are all too common signs of boy racer and burnout activity around Cambridge.
Deb Hann – Senior Constable
I understand the annoyance and frustration this causes. In the past month however, I can see only nine calls to Police for boy racer incidents in Cambridge. These were a single call each time, for separate incidents. Firstly, thank you to those who called 111 and provided information that enabled us to take positive enforcement action. Sustained loss of traction (burnouts) causes a lot of damage and pollution and can be intimidating to other road users.
If Police are to take action on more offenders, especially those recidivist offenders, we need more community help. For each of the nine recorded incidents, there will be other people who witnessed the behaviour, and did not call. Each call adds weight to the situation and extra information for attending staff. This all adds to the evidence enabling us to take positive action, which may include impounding vehicles, prosecution, fines or alternative/youth aid action. Information we need includes registrations and vehicle descriptions along with possible driver and passenger descriptions and an account of what the vehicle was seen doing.
Perhaps you have CCTV which provides a view of such offending or of the vehicles and people involved. Importantly in prosecution cases, we need those eye-witnesses to also be willing to make a signed statement about what they saw to police and be prepared to appear in court if required. If police are unable to locate the offenders at the time, at the very least, a vehicle registration gives us a start point for follow-up investigations.
If you wish to provide anonymous information about people or cars who are involved in any criminal or traffic offending, you can do so via Crimestoppers, calling 0800 555 111. To help us disrupt burnout activity however, a call to 111 when the perpetrators are there and doing it, is vital.
In other news, we have again had a few cars tampered with or stolen in the last week. Please remember to take keys out of your vehicle whenever you leave it, remove valuables, and generally make it as unattractive a target as possible for opportunists, through good parking in a secure or well-lit location.
Billy Bain, 4, and his three-year-old sister Maebel sit in the front of a parked police car at the Te Awamutu Police Station Open Day on Saturday. Photo: Jeremy Smith
Finally, it was great to see so many people come to the Te Awamutu Police Station Open Day last Saturday from across the district. They enjoyed interacting with Search and Rescue staff with their rescue vessel, a Police handler and his dog, police recruiting, seeing a patrol car set up for a shift and a tour of the station cell block. It was made even better by the presence of our Hato Hone St Johns Ambulance and Fire and Emergency New Zealand colleagues adjacent with their demonstrations and information stands. Have a good week.
Constable Ryan Fleming of On the Beat fame talks about equipment carried in patrol cars. Photo: Jeremy Smith
Te Awamutu Volunteer Fire Brigade members demonstrate a car extraction. Photo: Jeremy Smith
The youngest open day attendee spotted by The News on Saturday was one-year-old Revie May Te Whaiti, who was all smiles in the back seat of a parked police car. Photo: Jeremy Smith
Fave – Three-year-old Harper-mae Shaw sits in a parked fire truck with her ‘Poppa D’, grandad and Te Awamutu volunteer firefighter Dave Shaw. Photo: Jeremy Smith
Puahue School student James Cleal, 7, has a turn at ‘driving’ the police boat which was on display on Saturday. Photo: Jeremy Smith
Te Awamutu Volunteer Fire Brigade members demonstrate a car extraction. Photo: Jeremy Smith
