The provocative heading was to get your attention...

The police report story below from 2020 puts the blame on one Auckland kid for introducing crime to Turangi! This is a warning that with the Christmas New Year holidays approaching, prospective guests and tourist visitors to Turangi need to be more “security aware”. We hate to have to report this but despite police assurances to the contrary – see articles below – since 2020 the problems with delinquent kids have become more severe. Since then the potential for security problems for many holiday homes have become more precarious than ever.

Most local motels have suffered more from thefts and burglaries and damage, mainly from the same gang of insolent kids during the last two years, than in the previous 15 years combined! Other motels that have suffered similar trespassing and damage have given up complaining to the police. The most recent were kids breaking into a guests’ recreation room at a nearby motel and wrecking the games machines to steal a few coins. Then the local indoor swimming pool suffered damage when kids climbed on the roof to break windows etc. The kids’ crime spree just goes on and on.

The youth aid programme has failed miserably. In such a small town (the resident population of approximately 3,000 traditionally at least doubles or triples over the holiday period) it is inexcusable – others know who they are but the kids are convinced they are bullet proof. There is no responsible parent supervision. The parents or minders criticised us for calling them “feral” kids but that is how they behave.

This situation with problem kids is not confined to Turangi. Sadly, guest inmates claim it is the same appalling situation everywhere else as well…

So what can we do about it? On Saturday morning nearly all the local concerned residents held a meeting with the local Police to discuss the issues. There is an active neighbourhood watch group for the riverside Taupahi community with a good residents communication process in place but the delinquent kids are so confident they cannot be caught. They brag that the cops can’t catch them and even if they do they can avoid any chance of a conviction as they are under-age.

The police excuse is that they are understaffed… (But try exceeding the lowered speed restriction on SH1 – 60 kmph through Turangi or 80 kmph north – you will see how understaffed they are when you immediately get pinged. Tourist guests suggest their focus is all wrong…?)

Even if we catch kids trespassing we are not allowed to hold them! It is a ridiculous situation. In one instance last year after some kids returned to TRM looking for any opportunities, several inmates (still wearing waders) chased them off the property. The kids responded by wanting to rumble. They were chased further across the main road and the anglers returned with their battle trophies – a scooter and a kid’s bike. The police called in later demanding that we returned to them the scooter and bike for the kids to collect! We were at fault! Note they have never returned any of many TRM’s mountain bikes taken over the last few years… Guests took the photos below of kids trespassing on our property but the same gang is still active.

Fortunately, TRM now has a security guard dog that will achieve much more than just hold them. Our previous two dogs died mysteriously… It is not difficult to calculate how they suddenly became sick. One (Boof) had to be put down and the other (Pumpkin), in prime condition as a six year old, just suddenly collapsed and died. Now we even have concerned neighbours walk their dogs through TRM to make sure the kids keep out.

The following articles from our local newspaper from over two years ago blamed Aucklanders!

Turangi Police: Some in community are enabling youth crime

Taupo & Turangi Weekender 3 Sep, 2020

“Cigarettes were the target of two ram raids in the Tūrangi/Tongariro area over the last fortnight.

Kia ora koutou. Since I last did a police report a fortnight ago, we have had a mini crime wave in our area.

These crimes are mainly being caused by a group of local youths causing havoc. We believe they are linked to 18 burglaries, five vehicle thefts, vehicles broken into and two ram raids on local shops, using stolen vehicles.

However, some members of the community are unfortunately enabling and supporting this group’s behaviour by buying stolen goods from them.

We have heard reports that the youths and their parents are selling cigarettes and other stolen goods such as tools on Facebook.

If you are buying stolen goods, you are encouraging and rewarding crime. It is also a crime to receive stolen property, if you are reckless about how something was obtained. Remember, if a deal’s too good, then there’s a good chance that it’s stolen property.

The trouble began several weeks ago when a young person from Auckland came to stay in Tūrangi, teaching others how to break into cars and setting off a crime wave. Before that, these youths were known to us but it was mostly for minor matters.

The Auckland lad has since been detained in custody but three local youths, with one as young as 13, are still in the community and are being dealt with through the Youth Aid process.”

With the Christmas-New Year holiday period approaching TRM has to warn tourist guests to be more vigilant – to lock cars and not leave fishing gear drying outside the units. Recently one of these insolent youths approached us demanding we give him a fishing rod. When we refused he claimed he would get one from somewhere else instead… He has since been seen fishing.

A follow-up newspaper report four months later:

Tūrangi Police: Family harm shows big jump in 2020

Taupo & Turangi Herald 11 Feb, 2021

“Most crime in the Tūrangi-Tongariro area was fairly steady last year but burglaries were up slightly and family harm spiked.

Kia ora koutou. I’ve been having a look through our statistics for last year and comparing them to 2019 to see how we did in the Tūrangi-Tongariro area.

To summarise, last year we had 181 burglaries, up 30 on 2019, or roughly two and a bit a month more. However the number of stolen cars was steady (31 last year compared to 30 in 2019) and thefts from cars remained exactly the same at 22 recorded in each year.

The real jump was in family harm. In 2019 we recorded 301 family harm incidents and in 2020 this spiked to 408. What’s noticeable is that many of these callouts were recorded during the weeks spent in lockdown, in April and early May. For many families, it was a stressful time and some people did not deal with it well which is reflected in these statistics. Other crimes such as burglaries were down over the lockdown period as not many people were out and about and those who were, were being stopped by police.

This is my first report for 2021 and I’m pleased to say so far most things have been reasonably quiet, with crime numbers across the board, including family harm, tracking lower than at the same time last year.

Across the wider Taupō district though there have been a lot of thefts from cars and in more than half these cases the vehicle in question had been left unlocked. To avoid this, leave your car in a safe place, remove any valuables and lock it, don’t make it easy for people to steal your property.

Over the New Year period we did have some “hot” areas, particularly Omori-Kuratau. I had an informal meeting with one of the residents from there earlier this week and we spoke about security, CCTV cameras and the police response going forward to help the community out there. We intend to keep forming those partnerships out in the Omori Kuratau area and engaging with and educating the people that come in over that busy summer time.

We’ve also been making regular trips out to Whanganui Bay to engage with the community there, which has an influx of extra people over the summer time. We are not down there just as police but as part of the community and working to keep our communication and partnership open. That way, if there are issues or concerns we can help, and so far this partnership is getting good results.”

OK? Two years later the community are still waiting and holding meetings to try to find a solution… These photos of kids trespassing in TRM were just some taken by guests chasing kids off the property in April 2021. Juno is looking forward to catching one. We will not be able to stop her either…

Before this latest escalation in youth crime, a couple of years ago we – TRM – tried to employ a couple of them. On first impressions, they fooled us, but they were hopeless – completely unemployable. They did more destructive damage than work. Obviously, I failed them! I need to enroll in a “staff relationship” course with Didymo Dave, one of our local champions who has achieved some amazing success with local “at risk” youth. If the Police were serious about addressing youth crime then they need to employ several more advisors trained by Didymo Dave.