He told the Weekend Herald there had been an upsurge in the number of violent attacks and the level of violence used, offering a catalogue of weapons seen at recent incidents: tomahawks, metal bars, softball bats, rocks, sticks, knives and BB guns.
He said young males were the worst culprits - "They don't seem to know the consequences" - and two streets in particular, Tonga and Rawhiti, were hubs of conflict.
The streets, both near where Ms Aim was killed, are certainly rough in parts. Shoes hang over power lines - the classic sign of tinny houses - and the morning we visit, a cop car is pulling vehicles over and detectives are questioning residents near a house with boarded-up windows covered in graffiti.
On Rawhiti St, a group of teenage girls in hoodies lounge about on the balcony of a small, no-frills house.
The girls, aged 15 to 19, say living in this neighbourhood can be scary.
"We've got the Mongrel Mob just over there," said Eternity Tarawhiti, 19, pointing across the street to a house with a large Mob logo in the window.
She works part-time as a manager at Pizza Hut but most of the girls are unemployed and none is still at school. They complain that Taupo is boring, that there is "nothing to do".
Taupo-nui-a-Tia College principal Peter Moyle dismisses their complaints as "a state of mind".
"Compared to a lot of towns we've got everything on our doorstep," he said. "Mountain bike tracks, the lake, power-boat racing - every weekend there's something happening in town and most of it's free."
Mr Moyle said youth gangs were not a problem at his school, which recently moved from a Decile 4 ranking to a more affluent Decile 7, and he did not believe youth problems were worsening in Taupo. "I'd say 95 per cent of our kids are wonderful human beings and outstanding citizens."
Youth health educator Shelley Robinson also believes most of young people in Taupo are "neat", but is aware of youth gangs.
The 26-year-old works at Cafe for Youth Health, which runs a clinic and community programmes.
Ms Robinson became aware of the gangs when her organisation ran a graffiti art programme and one of the group's community art projects was tagged over by other youths "marking their territory".
She said young people in Taupo lacked a dedicated youth centre and thrived in programmes run by her organisation, but these were often short-lived because of a lack of funding.
Taupo Mayor Rick Cooper said the council held regular meetings with police and took a zero-tolerance approach to youth violence.
He lamented the thought that any damage could be done to his "iconic district" by Ms Aim's murder.
"Any negative impact on tourism would certainly worry me."
TROUBLE IN LAKESIDE RESORT
* January 17: Scottish tourist Karen Aim is found dying on a street corner at 2.30am by police investigating reports of vandalism at Taupo-nui-a-Tia College.
* January 8: Three visitors from Tauranga are attacked with metal bars and robbed at Spa Park at 1.30am. Police speak to four local youths.
* January 5: A 17-year-old girl is hit over the head 12 times with a jagged rock while walking home on Invergarry Rd at 2.40am. A 14-year-old boy is later arrested over the attack. He has not been ruled out as a suspect in Ms Aim's death.
* January 1: Police receive reports of fighting at a Pihanga St house. They find two girls have beaten up another girl and stolen her cellphone.
* December 19: A man at a house on Tonga St is hit in the face with a rock by a person who has driven past and stopped after the pair got into a verbal altercation.
* December 18: Police hear reports of youths fighting with weapons in the same area. They arrest a 17-year-old boy for allegedly striking a woman with a softball bat.
