Editorial: Foot patrols render city safe

City Assist in Hastings has been a masterstroke for the city. Photo File

The shenanigans of wayward youths at the weekend was a blast from the past for Hastings CBD.

I'd been at our Heretaunga St newsroom for only 20 minutes when we heard a commotion outside and bolted out to find a handful of police officers swooping on a group of young people suspected of theft and trashing a local restaurant minutes earlier.

It came just a day after young people ran amok in Hastings' Focal Point Cinema.

The young ones' belligerence in the face of retailers and police was undoubtedly the most worrying aspect on the scene. One can't help but feel sorry for young minds so moulded, so young.

This came just a week after a colleague's daughter had her unlocked bike stolen from inner-city Hastings.

A day later she spotted it in the possession of young people. With the help of police the group was forced to hand it back but, what beggared belief was when one of the offenders offered the following advice to my colleague: "Lock it or lose it, miss".

Another party giving chase at both of the weekend's incidents was the City Assist team.

What powerhouses in purple.

Since their inception the commercial hub has been an appreciably more gentrified space to be in - from both a retailer and shopper perspective. So we can only hope the weekend's melee was an aberration.

These City Assist men and women do a stellar job as the eyes and ears of police. They're a masterstroke and deserve acknowledgement for ridding the Fruit Bowl of much of its former ugliness.