Editorial - Tuesday October 8, 2013

Peter Jackson, editor, The Northland Age

Now it's vandals

IT won't have come as much surprise to the very Far North that reported crime in Northland rose 2.3 per cent in the last financial year. If there was any surprise it would have been that the increase was relatively modest.

Given the continuing evolution of the manner in which crime is recorded there is little to be gained from comparing one year's crime rate with another's, but Kaitaia certainly seems to have suffered more than its fair share in 2013. It began with a spate of burglaries that finally prompted a meeting between police and grumpy business owners, which produced results. Police in Kaitaia switched their focus from wherever it had been to burglary, with an instant effect. The burglars now appear to be rebounding, however, and if that continues the police can expect to hear from the community again.

There was another strong response from the community after a mob of drunken youths abused and intimidated some teenage girls in the main street on the evening of July 5, and assaulted and robbed a man who went to their defence. That led to the forming of a parents' patrol on Friday and Saturday nights, again with an instant beneficial effect.

The Te Rangi Aniwaniwa whanau who set up the patrols also undertook to have a word with the parents of the boys who were responsible for the incident. The writer is not aware of any impact that might have had, but it too might well have contributed to making Kaitaia a safer place.

Now it's vandalism, specifically the graduation of a handful of taggers from making their mark with paint or pens to etching their signatures into shop doors and windows. And this time, unlike burglars and drunken youths, the police seem all but powerless to stop them.

The etching of windows goes far beyond nuisance value. One estimate of the cost of repairing damage done over one recent weekend topped $100,000. A police officer counted 30 damaged sheets of glass along half of one side of Commerce Street. The Northland Age spent $2700 repairing its glass entrance, and has a quote for $1380 to repair the second attack. If that is anything like representative then $100k seems far from exaggerated.

The vandals' victims include the Kaitaia Fire Brigade and the Salvation Army. These idiots don't care who they harm.

The police say they know who these offenders are. They know who 'owns' each individual tag. They know their names, they know their parents (the majority are juveniles), and they know where they live. Police have been in their homes. But without direct evidence they can do nothing.

The theory is that when word gets around the tagging fraternity that the police are homing in on someone, others will forge their target's tag. Thus the appearance of a recognised tag on a pane of glass does not represent sufficient evidence for the laying of charges. Once upon a time a judge might have been invited to ponder that defence after someone had been charged, but not these days.

The only danger these cretins run of being charged, for what little good that will do if they are under 17, is being caught in the act. One might reasonably surmise that this is beyond the powers of the police, so it is up to us.

Anyone who sees an etcher at work is urged to phone 111, and to follow the culprit until the police arrive. Witnesses should get the fullest possible description of the offender, take a photo of them if possible, and not let them out of their sight.

Fair enough, but police protestations that they cannot do more are not convincing. And they are not alone.

The community clearly has a role in protecting itself. It has done this on two occasions this year, firstly by communicating with the police over the burglary problem, and then by patrolling the streets to keep everyone safe. Perhaps it can and should do more, but the first priority is for the government agencies that have a direct role to play to begin doing so.

That includes the police. Their first task is to catch the vandals, or at least get them off the streets. If there are problems with acquiring evidence, then there must be other avenues, such as the legal requirement that parents provide their children with a degree of care and protection.

That might be a job for CYF, although police can and do make referrals, and say they have. Would it be reasonable to describe juveniles who are doing tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage to other people's property as in need of care and protection? Absolutely. So why are these boys, known to authorities on a first name basis, still in business?

And let's not forget the Ministry of Education. These boys should be going to school, but it's odds on that they are not. The rule in Kaitaia, it seems, is that kids who have been rejected by the mainstream schools have several alternative options, but these kids aren't availing themselves of them either. They don't go anywhere.

The general rule in that event seems to be that they are enrolled at Correspondence School. Parents who have no control over their children are hardly going to sit them down at the kitchen table five days a week and see they get an education. So what happens? Nothing. Well, not quite nothing. They go out and damage property, steal stuff, get drunk and stoned, and generally commit themselves to a life of state dependency.

So the Ministry of Education needs to start earning its keep too. It can insist that parents meet their legal obligation to send their kids to school.

If that helps get them off the streets that would be a very good thing for Kaitaia.

There must also be some means of sheeting home financial responsibility to their parents. If the kids can't pay for the damage they've done then their parents should be the next port of call. If that's not possible, Mike Sabin's the man to call on.

And what of the business association? It's been collecting cash via its BID programme for more than a year, but has yet to act on its promise to upgrade its CCTV cameras, suggested months ago as an answer to the burglars. Now would be good.

Meanwhile Kaitaia might consider just how far out of control the town has become. Take this incident, by no means noteworthy according to police, from last week as an example.

Two people steal alcohol from a liquor store. In the early hours of the following morning one of them, a 16-year-old boy, is arrested after a brawl in Matthews' Ave. The party is at his house so he can't be bailed there. So he goes to CYF. Mum, who won't say where she is, is too drunk to collect him.

The remaining revellers are cleaned out of the house, having stolen everything of value and trashed the rest. CYF staff call later in the morning, by which time Mum is home and knocking back her breakfast beer. She's not worried about her son or what his friends did to her house.

Kaitaia has reached the stage where it needs major surgery, and if 'the system' doesn't allow that, the system needs to change. And the people and agencies whose prime responsibility is to deal with these issues need to start dealing with them. Then, perhaps, they might call on us for support.