Summer crime wave
There’s been a seasonal spike in anti-social behaviour and dishonesty offending in Ōmokoroa since Christmas, much of it reported on Facebook.
Two motorcycles were stolen from their owner’s garage during the weekend 15th-18th January. One was a 2020 Moto Guzzi V85 TT. The other was a 2016 Yamaha MT-07 in silver, rego B8GZT. The Guzzi was later recovered, with the owner telling Facebook it was a tenant who’d also stolen beer from his fridge and garlic bread from the oven.
A stereo, cash, cards, a wallet and other items were stolen at night as thieves entered three cars in the Myrtle Drive and Gellibrand Place area. Some cars were understood to have been left unlocked. A petrol can abandoned at the same time was removed the following night.
Neighborhood Pizzeria was broken into four times in one week, resulting in the theft of a small amount of cash, drinks, and an iPad that later showed GPS tracking at a nearby address. Police fingerprinted the Pizzeria, but the iPad was not located.
One offender tried to access the liquor store and got into the adjacent Indian restaurant, where he attempted to open the cash register using a spoon.
Two youths were seen roaming around, including lighting a fire on a seat at the golf course. One was wearing a bandana. The other appears very darkskinned, having distinctive black hair with shaven sides and box style mop.
Residents are being encouraged to record times and locations of sightings, report suspicious behaviour via 111 and take photos only if safe to do so. At least one incident of baseless accusation aimed at children - an apparent case of mistaken identity - has caused bad feeling for a long-time local family with teenage boys.
Elsewhere in early January, a ute was broken into at Harbour Ridge. Courier parcels to pick up were stolen from a gate on Youngson Road on 20th January.
In the Western Avenue area, there have been reports of door knocking in the middle of the night, followed by residents finding excrement on their doorstep.
There was also a report of a group of youths wearing blue bandanas in Kaimai Views.
Community Patrol leader Julia Wharton asks locals to be vigilant to noise at night.
“Lock cars and property. If you do come home to a burglary, try not to touch anything they may have touched to preserve fingerprints. Please report incidents happening now to 111, and those that have already happened to 105,” she says.
Julia says after boundary changes in Policing areas, Senior Constable James Muir of Katikati has been ensuring a more significant Police presence on the peninsula.