A recent massive brawl in Tauranga’s Welcome Bay was not an isolated incident in the street, a resident says.
There were also “fights, drinking and vandalism” in Victory St on the two previous weekends, he said.
The concerned father, who spoke on the condition he was not named, said he spent three hours the day after the November 1 brawl picking up broken glass, rubbish, condoms and other debris from the road outside his home.
About midnight, police with dogs had dispersed hundreds of youths gathered on the street after what another neighbour believed was an out-of-control Halloween party.
She previously told SunLive she called police four times from about 10pm, including when a brawl broke out.
Police have said they were delayed by another serious disorder incident.
The father said he called the police twice over the fracas and he believed the delay in police getting to the scene was “unacceptable”.
“Although we appreciated the police intervention, I must tell you it was way too late, and we as a community were just lucky not to see something far worse occur,” the father said.
“They just got lucky that the weekend events and associated disorders didn’t kill someone.”
He said this had been the third week in a row that “fights, drinking and vandalism” had occurred in Victory St.
“My kids are terrified as all they hear these days are burnouts, fights and people breaking glass, peeing and making fools of themselves on our street.”
He said hundreds of children used the area, some barefoot, every day and the vandalism was “unacceptable”.
The man said two weeks before the brawl there was another large gathering in the street and a teenage girl was hit by a side mirror of a car being driven up and down the road.
“A couple of inches closer and she would have been run over,” he said.
As he walked outside to check on her, the group jumped into the car, which had no number plates, and drove off.
“It terrifies me and my kids, who are afraid of all the noise going on, and because if one of them loses control of their cars, they’re going to end up right inside my property.”
He said he had lived in Victory St for more than 10 years.
“This is the worst that I have ever seen it.”
He called for a stronger police response to these types of anti-social behaviour and violence.
“It’s only a matter of time before someone is going to be seriously hurt in our neighbourhood.”
Tauranga City Council general manager of regulatory and community services Sarah Omundsen said the council’s noise control officers responded to three complaints on November 1.
They asked for police support to serve an excessive noise notice given the large number of people present, but police were unable to attend while noise control officers were there.
Omunsden said disorder incidents were best reported straight to police, who were best equipped to respond.
Western Bay of Plenty Police area commander Inspector Clifford Paxton reiterated that police staff were unable to respond immediately on November 1 because they were busy with another serious disorder incident.
“As police, we must prioritise our demands with calls for service, prioritising events based on risk – and our response will reflect that risk.”
Paxton said the police understand this type of behaviour, particularly when it is repeated, can be “very distressing” for members of the community.
He encouraged people to report unsafe or suspicious behaviour.
“Even if we are unable to attend immediately, reports about incidents help inform us about what’s happening in our communities and where we might need to consider deploying our officers most.”
A police spokeswoman said in the past 60 days, there had been no other calls for service or incidents in the Victory St area that raised any ongoing issues.
Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 25 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.