Taupō police report: Thieves target boats and trailers

Photo / NZME

Tēnā koutou katoa Taupō and Turangi Communities.

This week I want to start off by thanking the community of Tūrangi for responding to my article last weekend about the trail bikes ripping around.

As a result of this article, we have had reports from many of you around this type of unsafe behaviour. Your reports have enabled local police to contact those households.

This is going to be an ongoing issue until we address the behaviour of some of the adults who own the bikes and allow young kids to ride them unsafely. I continue to appeal to you to keep reporting these occurrences so that our rangatahi and tamariki are safe.

Up here in Taupō we have seen a rise in trailer, boat and jet ski trailer thefts from homes and industrial areas. The Tactical Crime Unit located in Taupō is investigating these incidents however we do need some help from you.

These items are being taken in the early hours of the morning. If you are moving around during these times, you come across such vehicles and you think they're out of place, please dial 111 so that the response group teams can attend and investigate.

I have asked our teams to actively stop vehicles towing trailers, jet skis and boats. I do
apologise if you are legitimate in your travel, but this is a task that we need to do to catch the thieves.

If you are aware of who these offenders are you can tell us about them by calling the Crimestoppers line or popping into a police station. We will take your information and keep it confidential but hold the suspects accountable.

Finally, this week I want to speak to some of the behaviour of some of our rangatahi (young people) within the Taupō CBD. I am aware that the businesses and accommodation providers in these areas are getting slightly frustrated.

It is important if the behaviour of these young people requires intervention that you telephone 111 and allow the Police to respond. If you have CCTV that can capture pictures of these young people, then please make attending police aware.

What has been helpful recently is some members of the public have videoed the behaviour, police have viewed the footage which has assisted in the investigation.

What I can say is that the Taupō Youth and Community team are positively engaging and working with these rangatahi and we are seeing a change in behaviour. I want to give a shoutout to Acting Sergeant Sarah Lord and her team Constables Sholto Leaso, Craig Ormsby and Mary Lambert who are working very hard on this.

I am confident that we will get the outcomes needed but like all behavioural matters, it takes time for change and sometimes as adults we need to extend a little bit of love and grace to our rangatahi while that change is happening.

That is all for me this week. I hope that you have a safe and enjoyable Auckland Anniversary weekend. Look after each other, stay safe on our roads and we'll chat again next week.

Hei konā.