Ratbags blamed for `war zone'

Cars being dumped and set ablaze in the Smeaton Dr area on the southern outskirts of Whangarei is the work of a handful of "ratbags", say locals.
Two more cars were torched in a street there last week.
Residents want a stop to frequent night-time speeding, wheelies and tyre burn-outs, car wrecking and fire attacks. They fear many of the cars being dumped, stripped and torched have probably been stolen. Some residents did not want to be named for fear of retaliation from youths thought to be behind much of the area's crime.
One woman said residents were aware of the youths' attitude to "narking" and would not speak out. "We know who the kids are who are doing it. Luckily they're trashing cars and not breaking into our houses," she said.
Residents say the youngsters suspected are turning Smeaton Dr into a place resembling a war zone. The streets would be littered with burnt-out vehicles if, under a Whangarei District Council recovery scheme, a local company did not remove wrecks several times a month.
A Maori warden who lives in the area was shocked at the lack of respect the troublemakers showed toward elders, neighbours and other people's property. "There's just a few young fellows up here doing it but the neighbours are sick of it," Henare Hape said. "I don't know what we can do about it. Someone should be trying to do something."
He said residents should be able to feel safe. He had lived there for 20 years. Residents had approached him because of his warden role, but when he had spoken to youths suspected of causing trouble they had shown him no respect. "In my day we'd have had a real hiding for that."
Mr Hape had raised the issue of the car vandalism and other anti-social behaviour with Whangarei police. He had seen police officers talking to some of the suspected troublemakers but generally police did not patrol the area, he said.
Police area commander Inspector Paul Dimery said he was not aware car torchings was a major problem, but police were unable to act over any crime unless the public let them know what was happening. While it was the district council's responsibility to remove car wrecks, the police and council could work together on crime-related issues should the need arise.
Many of the houses in Smeaton Dr belong to Housing NZ Corporation. Regional head Rick Boraston said that while HNZ tried to promote strong communities it had little control over street crime. "We have met with residents to discuss the problem and have also worked with the Fire Service, police and the council," Mr Boraston said.
"From a landlord's perspective there's not much we can do about some of the problems occurring up there."
* CARS IN FLAMES
Fire Service statistics show the number of car fires in Northland has steadily risen over the past three years.
There were 130 such fires in Northland last year compared with 95 in 2005 and 74 in 2004.
Most of those were in remote parts of Northland, though the number of reported fires in Whangarei has also increased.
In 2006 there were 49 car fires in the city, compared with 30 in 2005 and 14 in 2004.
Whangarei Fire Service senior station officer Paul Thompson said Smeaton Dr was a problem area for car fires, as was William Jones Dr in Otangarei. He said if people saw abandoned cars they should phone the Whangarei District Council, which would arrange for them to be moved.
Mr Thompson said a crew was called out on Wednesday to put out fires in two cars parked next to each other.
He believed there were a number of reasons for the increase in car fires aside from arson or vandalism. One was the expense incurred with having to dispose of car tyres as wreckers did not accept cars with tyres on them.
Insurance fraud and a drop in the price of steel were other possible reasons.