Tauranga residents have vented their frustrations and say people could have died after roads were illegally blocked by hundreds of cars at the weekend.
Police have told the Bay of Plenty Times they responded to three illegal street gatherings involving about 300 cars overnight o Saturday and two bystanders were injured after being hit. A 24-year-old man is facing charges.
Upset residents have spoken out including a Welcome Bay man who described seeing a “mob of people” and a mother who described the stress of trying to rush her daughter, who was “struggling to breathe”, to Tauranga Hospital from Welcome Bay, only to find the 11th and 15th Ave intersections with Cameron Rd blocked.
Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell believed police were stretched “too thin” but Police Minister Ginny Andersen said she believed Uffindell’s assertion was “wrong”.
An outraged Hammond St, Welcome Bay, resident said the illegal gathering of cars and people blocking a key intersection in his neighbourhood had a significant impact on him and other residents.
“The noise was really loud. I even struggled to hear the movie I was watching and it woke others in the house.
“There was constant engine revving, people doing lots of donuts and drifting. I also heard lots of yelling and cheering in response,” he said.
The resident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said some of the “mob of people” he saw also let off fireworks for about five minutes.
“There were cars and lots of people everywhere all over the Welcome Bay Rd and Western Bay Link Rd intersection. Lines of cars and utes were parked up on either side of the intersection which meant the entire intersection was blocked to other traffic,” he said.
“They turned up around 12.30am on Sunday and then suddenly started evacuating en masse about 1.30am. I didn’t actually see the police arrive but I assume that is why they left so quickly.
“What these people were doing was obviously very unsafe and someone could easily have been seriously hurt or killed.”
The mother of a girl “struggling to breathe” posted a message on the Mount Maunganui Notice Board Facebook page saying she was “appalled” at the behaviour of the hundreds of motorists who blocked roads leading to Tauranga Hospital.
Wairua Ngatai said she was trying to rush her daughter from Welcome Bay to the hospital after deciding it was faster to drive her themselves overnight on Saturday but their route was blocked by boy racers, in Welcome Bay and on Cameron Rd near McDonald’s.
“Both my husband and I are medically trained so we were able to remain calm and keep her alert. We were lucky but the next family may not be. I am extremely appalled as a community member that this is what the car scene has resorted to!
“My daughter could have died. I understand that local police are strained for resources, manpower and that there are serious crimes happening elsewhere, but come on.”
Welcome Bay Community Centre manager Sacha Harwood said: “These types of gatherings have flow-on effects for lots of people as seen from all the Facebook comments,” she said.
Harwood said she would like to see more activities organised for youths and this was something the centre was working towards.
“We need to engage more with our youth and provide meaningful activities and safe spaces where they can express the things they are interested in.”
A police spokesman said the incident disrupted the public and put other drivers at risk.
“Illegal street racing events, particularly those which saw bystanders hit by an illegal street racer and injured over the weekend, are of huge concern to police.”
He said the first gathering of cars was reported to be on State Highway 36 (Tauranga Direct Rd) near Whataroa Rd late on Saturday night, and two bystanders received minor injuries.
“At Turret Road after the meet at Welcome Bay Link Road, a 24-year-old man was taken into custody on the night on charges of failing to stop and sustained loss of traction, and a vehicle was also impounded.
“Police then later responded to the intersection of Cameron Road and 11th Avenue around 2am, to further illegal street racing activity, however, the road users were quickly dispersed. Inquiries continue to identify and hold people accountable.
“This behaviour is incredibly risky to those participating in vehicles, to pedestrian bystanders, and to other members of the public.
“We also understand the frustration this causes for local residents and we are committed to disrupting, deterring and holding people to account for this behaviour.”
The police spokesperson also urged anyone seeing concerning road user behaviour to call 111 immediately, providing as much detail as possible, including registration details and photos and video if it was safe to obtain them.
“Police need to balance attending, issuing infringements, and dispersing vehicles at the time, with ensuring our police staff and those involved remain safe.
“Police are working alongside partners such as local councils to help create solutions to stem this behaviour.”
Uffindell believed the incident was “typical of a soft-on-crime Labour Government”.
In his view: “The police are doing a great job but under this Government they are stretched far too thin.
“People need to be able to get around town freely and there was real alarm that 11th and 15th Avenues on Cameron Rd were blocked off because these are the major arterial routes through our city and to Tauranga Hospital.”
He said his constituents were “really concerned” about crime in Tauranga and did not feel “as safe as they used to”.
Police data provided in response to miniserial questions from National Party spokesperson for police Mark Mitchell showed a 34 per cent increase in reported street racing events between 2018 and 2022 in the Bay of Plenty, with 1056 events in 2018 and 1413 events in 2022.
The data also showed up until March 26 this year, there have been 381 incidents, and police attended 71 of these, or 19 per cent.
But Police Minister Ginny Andersen believed Uffindell’s assertion police were not adequately resourced was “wrong”.
“Our police do an incredible job and, as the minister, it’s my job to make sure police have everything they need to keep our communities safe.”
Since 2017, the Government had added more than 1700 additional police officers to the front line, she said.
An extra 129 police officers had been added to the Bay of Plenty district, an increase of nearly 20 per cent, she said.
“We’ll hit our target of 1800 extra police this year, including 700 cops to target organised crime.
“We also recently resourced police to the tune of $122.5 million to roll out a new tactical response model across the country.”
The model was designed to ensure frontline police were trained, equipped, and supported to keep themselves and communities safe, she said.
The new model more than doubled the current tactical training to frontline staff, provided offender prevention teams with advanced tactical training, and had boosted tactical intelligence capability in all districts.
Andersen believed: “Police funding stagnated under the previous National Government, but we are working hard to give police the resources they need to keep our communities safe.”
He founded Kiwi Can in Ōpōtiki and Tauranga, reaching over 3700 youth weekly.