Police are promising a zero tolerance attitude to a lawless and usually drunken, late-night teenagers terrorising the Taradale shopping centre.
And copping some of the blame are parents who amaze police because of apparent apathy toward their children's antics.
"Police are often incredulous of the lack of interest in the whereabouts of their teenagers and what they are up to late at night," police Napier area commander Inspector Kevin Kalff said, responding to concerns expressed by one resident in a letter to police and media.
The woman, writing after an arson which damaged three shops early last Wednesday morning, said the weekly mayhem based in the Symons Lane which runs between the damaged shops and Taradale Park, refuted the notion that Taradale is a "peaceful, idyllic village," and parents needed to step in.
She said that in four years living in the area she has witnessed (or been interviewed as a prospective witness to) one rape, an attempted abduction, three arsons, a burglary and an out-of-control violent rampage, all of which are only part of the near-weekly mayhem, which became almost nightly during the school holidays.
"Every weekend is a drunken brawl with some variety of property damage," she said.
"It is way beyond time that the people of Taradale ... stopped burying their heads in the sand, about the true nature of this suburb."
Mr Kalff said a zero tolerance approach was being taken to those who were apprehended for offences.
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