Police have seized 10 bikes and laid several charges this month as illegal dirt bike riders continue to wreak havoc in South Auckland. Video / Nick Dobbie
Police have seized 10 bikes and laid several charges this month as illegal dirt bike riders continue to wreak havoc in South Auckland, costing ratepayers tens of thousands of dollars in damage to local parks and sports fields.
It comes after Counties Manukau police launched an operation at King’s Birthday weekend focusing on targeting “dangerous riding of dirt bikes” in the area.
“The community has had enough of this,” Acting Counties Manukau District Commander Inspector Matt Srhoj told NZ Herald Focus. “It’s been an ongoing problem for several years.
“It’s always a concerning issue… it can be quite intimidating for the public when we have these big groups and these big rides, it’s quite intimidating and the behavior itself is really dangerous.”
The Council is meanwhile being forced to spend tens of thousands of dollars of ratepayer money to repair sports fields, parks, and reserves across the district being torn up by bike tracks.
Dirk bike tracks through a park in Otara. Photo / Mike Scott
Chairperson of the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board Nick Bakulich said it’s “frustrating and annoying.
“Parks and reserves are places for people to enjoy and for the public and our community, this is where their rates are going in regards to maintenance and upgrades,” Bakulich said.
“Here we have a small proportion of our community ruining it for everybody.”
Māngere Sports Association President Noel Robinson told Focus the grounds at Centre Park are damaged by riders every week.
It’s forced the club to cancel a number of recently scheduled tournaments.
“It’s quite common too if play is at one end of the field for them to cut across the corner of the grounds,” Robinson said.
Mangere Sports Association President Noel Robinson. Photo / Nick Dobbie
“There’s very little respect shown for the users of the park and particularly when there’s younger people out there and parents who are on the sidelines, they of course become concerned about the welfare of their children.”
Police acknowledged the concerns, but said it was a difficult issue to solve and one which posed unique challenges.
“Obviously they’re not going to stop for us,” Srhoj said. “Sometimes they bait us as well so we’ve got to be a bit clever about how we do it and we’ve got to try and do it in the safest way possible.
“Chasing them and getting them to engage in worse behaviour is not a good way to actually try and resolve it. It’s much better if we can do it post-event or try and corral them to a certain location where we can deal with them”.
Councillor Alf Filipaina issued a plea to those responsible to think twice.
“Please think about our community,” he said.
“Please just have a think of the nieces and nephews that you have and if they want to go and enjoy this park and all the other parks across Auckland, just don’t tear it up because the kids want to use it.”
Bakulich said there were ways of blocking out the use of dirt bikes in local parks and sports fields like investing in fencing.
He encouraged clubs to submit funding applications to the council.
Cheree Kinnear is the lead of video brand ‘Focus’ for the New Zealand Herald. She pulls together compelling visual stories across news, sport and entertainment.
