Meeting minutes reveal security ‘outnumbered’

Thursday’s incident comes after local authorities met on April 12 to come up with an action plan to address issues at bus stops.

The minutes of the meeting between the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Tauranga City Council and police were yesterday released to the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend under the Local Government Information and Meetings Act.

The minutes included notes on comments attributed to the regional council’s Simon Gray, who oversees school buses, that security guards were “not engaging because they feel unsafe”.

He had observed threats being made, vandalism, riding on the backs of buses, youths intoxicated in public and drinking in school uniforms. Security guards were “outnumbered”.

Gray said even with training and raising the pay, it had been difficult to retain guards.

His colleagues were changing their walking route after work to avoid young people, having witnessed them fighting. Another saw young people rushing at people and “kicking out” at them.

Bus drivers were abused and threatened to the point where they were calling in sick or asking for duties to be changed, he said. Antisocial behaviour had continued in spite of increased security.

“The problem is that four security guards alone are never going to tackle this issue. What is needed now is a joint approach of being present in the CBD — not just police but community engagement . . .”

The minutes recorded Senior Sergeant Glenn Saunders urging drivers to make complaints about all incidents and for footage of incidents from security cameras in the area to be supplied to police.

Notes on comments attributed to him say “young people had been causing issues across the board” and that “if members of the public are feeling unsafe, we have a huge problem”.

He said police would make a concerted effort to patrol the troubled part of Willow St on foot most nights.

The minutes state there has been a “clear” message from police that security guards are to be “the eyes and ears only”.