Robbers ransack home

Kawerau has high unemployment. Photo / Jason Dorday

Four youths forced their way into the home of a Bay of Plenty woman on Friday night - holding a gun to her head while they swept through her house and made off with a bag of valuables.

Police said the woman was an "outstanding member of the community" and was not injured.

They would not reveal her age or the items taken in the 7pm robbery.

The incident, in Kawerau, is the latest in a string of violent crimes in the small town involving youth gangs, mayor Malcolm Campbell said.

"There's a lot of s***head wannabes around. They call themselves the Bloods and the Crips and all that," he said.

"Something's got to be done about them or else we're going to have anarchy on our hands. I've had a gutsful. We need to come down on these kids like a tonne of bricks."

Campbell said the problem was no longer directly linked to the Mongrel Mob.

"They're all grandads now, they'd be in bed by eight o'clock," he said.

A former Kawerau resident took to the internet to express his frustration at what his hometown had become.

"I'm just sick of that place, growing up there, watching my friends get raped and/or beaten up, watching kids only just hitting their teens and leaving school to raise a baby.

"Watching boys do so much drugs they go mental, joining gangs, telling me God is a fag and stuff and they serve the 'Dogs'.

"I'm just over it, and it's getting worse. Maori are a proud race but you look at that town, at the generation there now and struggle to find something to be proud of. It's sad, that town needs a revival and it needs to open its eyes to what its people are doing, what they are doing to their children."

Lifelong resident and Queen's Service Medal recipient Murray Hansen said the root of the town's problem was the high rate of youth unemployment.

"They've got time on their hands and that's a recipe for disaster. The town is markedly depressed, their employment prospects are very low."

With a population of fewer than 7000, Kawerau continues to be hit hard by the recession.

Carter Holt Harvey made 30 sawmill workers redundant at Christmas and more jobs are on the line with two primary schools to be closed this year.