Tūrangi Police Report: Blue Light fishing a great success

Tūrangi Blue Light's Kids Gone Fishing event at the Tokaanu Marina was a hit with local families. Photo / Supplied

Kia ora koutou.

We held our first Tūrangi Blue Light event during the school holidays, Kids Gone Fishing. It was really good, we had 120-130 people of all ages catching catfish at the Tokaanu Marina.

The event had a real family focus, there were prizes for the oldest and youngest fishermen, the biggest and smallest fish, and the most fish caught by a family.

It was good for Blue Light and good for our community. These events help bring our families together. When you have a family there, with mum, dad, brother, sister, koro, nan, aunty - they're all doing something together.

The police aspect is just having a presence, talking to them and creating those relationships. It shows them that local police, and New Zealand Police, do a lot more than just come around and deal with the bad stuff. Some families, some children, that's all they see. Events like this break down those barriers.

An example of what that sort of thing can progress to is recently we sent two of our young leaders to the Steinlager 2 Leadership Camp. We're really quite proud of the Blue Light programme.

Meanwhile, we've been dealing with some issues in the town centre. We've had young people fighting and old people fighting, people doing dumb stuff like hacking at a tree with a knife - just kid stuff.

The fighting was nonsensical. The message we want to get out there is that this isn't acceptable behaviour and we, as a community, shouldn't accept it. Two of the events happened about midday so there were a lot of people around and one of the events nobody called us, even though 10 to 15 people would've seen it.

I want to encourage people to call, let us know, don't assume someone else has done it. Don't accept this sort of behaviour because if you're not doing something about it, like calling us, you're accepting it. It's your town centre, so own it.

In relation to these matters, the youth have been referred to a youth agency and the men are being prosecuted for their actions.

On the roads, we were out there policing during the school holidays and it has been good, however, we need to watch our speeds. We've still had a few people driving too fast for their location and the conditions.

Remember to be mindful of the speed limits in our area. We have been out there policing them and we will continue to do so. Those speed limits are there for your own safety and the safety of everyone else.