13-year-old boy leads police on pursuit

The pursuit was one of three pursuit in Auckland City between 3pm yesterday and 2am today where police pursued offenders in stolen cars. File photo / NZ Herald

A 13-year-old boy led police on a pursuit around Glen Innes in a stolen car yesterday afternoon.

The young teen was driving a stolen Mazda Premacy with a passenger and failed to stop when signalled to by police.

The 13-year-old dumped the car in Concorde Place and took off on foot, police said.

The police helicopter directed officers on the ground to the two teenagers, who were now being dealt with through Youth Aid.

Inspector Vaughn Graham said he was concerned about the number of children driving stolen vehicles at dangerous speeds.

"Unless they change their ways, it's only a matter of time before they maim or kill themselves or other legitimate, licensed road users," he said.

The Glen Innes pursuit was one of three pursuit in Auckland City between 3pm yesterday and 2am today where police pursued offenders in stolen cars.

"Our staff are focused on many fronts - mobile and overhead patrols, directed patrols to known hot-spots, CCTV monitoring and intelligence gathering - to prevent crimes from happening or detect offenders quickly after incidents," Mr Graham said.

Two men aged in their 30s were arrested near Auckland Central Station shortly before 2am after fleeing from officers in a stolen Nissan Primera.

At about the same time, five young people aged 15 and 16 also ignored police requests for them to stop while driving around Mt Roskill.

"The stolen Nissan Cefiro they were in crashed into a power pole and, thankfully, they were not seriously injured," Mr Graham said.

They were all arrested and will face charges.

"I urge all parents and caregivers to take responsibility for their children and ensure they are safe at home," Mr Graham said.

"We don't want to be knocking on doors late at night delivering sad news to these or anyone else's families."