No-truant scheme to clear Rotorua streets of crime

A no-truant zone is being set up in Rotorua by retailers and police.

The plan is a bid to keep teenagers in school and lower the crime rate in the central city .

Retailers in the city's central business district are being asked for their comments on the proposed scheme.

Staff in shops that have the no-truant zone signs in windows will ask any customers during school hours who look to be under the under 16 for their permission slips authorising them to be outside school.

If they do not have a slip, the shopkeeper may ring police or the school's truant officer.

Police predict that once the truant-free zone is set up, shoplifting and street offences will drop dramatically.

They say Rotorua residents and tourists will also feel safer in the central city.

Rotorua police area commander Inspector Bruce Horne said police hoped the no-truant zone would change the attitudes of truants and show them that committing crime in the central city was not acceptable.

The proposal is being welcomed by retailers as a good way of ridding the central city of undesirables loitering on the streets.

- NZPA