The Tron: City of future or teen crime?
OK, is it just me or is this becoming a Hamilton ‘thing’? We all know the buzzwords thrown at Hamilton: We cringe, suck it up and move on.
Chlamydia, cow town, Claudelands Events Centre, V8s, Hamilton City Council, DHB, yadayadayada…yeah yeah I know. Been there done that.
Hamilton folk retaliate with ‘‘at least it’s not Palmerston North’’ and then go about their daily lives.
But I’ve noticed a new bunch of Hamilton buzzwords and descriptions turning up at the bottom of comments on Waikato Times stories and columns recently.
And they’re not the usual ones. They’re new and it seems people from elsewhere have been watching what’s going on in the Chlamydia Cow Capitol of the country.
And they’re throwing new buzzwords at the Tron.
People are talking about Hamilton becoming a violent little metro centre that seems to be overridden with wannabe teen gangsters.
The new buzzwords are all about young, violent crims on the streets of the Tron.
Crime is the business of Hamilton and teen criminal business is good. It’s violent and it’s high profile.
Hamilton has a new national brand and it appeals to the very people that don’t read the marketing brochures promoting life in the new subdivisions and green fields of the Waikato.
It was a Waikato Times headline that started me thinking things had changed. What followed removed whatever ambivalence I felt about the mean streets of my sleepy home town.
The headline that woke me from my slumber was: Teenager robs teen at knifepoint in Hamilton.
That headline and story should start Hamilton city leaders wringing their hands in collective angst when Hamilton is becoming branded as New Zealand’s teen crime centre.
So I did the Google rounds and looked for more reports of Hamilton crime stories and teen arrests. I found more:
Pre-teens rob woman’s handbag on Hamilton street; Five teens, including three 13-year-olds arrested in Hamilton after incidents; Two teens arrested over Hamilton shooting; Teenaged trio arrested after dairy robbery with hammer; Teen arrested over Hamilton dairy robbery; Fatal Hamilton stabbing: Teen girls arrested; Two female teens arrested, charged with arson at Hamilton school.
What the hell is going on? Have I been asleep while this crime wave of teenage Hamilton thugs has taken over the streets of Hamilton?
I must have missed the growing trend of Hamilton teens nicking cars, carrying knives, burning schools and threatening people on the quiet city streets I grew up on.
So here’s the thing, I bet these kids are ‘known to police’. They will come from families with season pass return tickets to the Hamilton cop shop because they only know criminal life.
They will have track records of multiple family group conferences and endless rounds of diversion and counselling for their background.
It’s the cops I feel sorry for. They are consistently let down by the judiciary, despite claims to the contrary by Chief District Court Judge Jan-Marie Doogue in her recent rebuttal of my column.
Further evidence suggesting the judiciary is utterly out of touch is the case of drunk driver and recidivist offender Gavin Hawthorn. He has more than 60 convictions, including burglary, assault, disorderly behaviour and possession of cannabis.
Twelve of the convictions are for drunk driving and four people have been killed in crashes when he was driving.
Porirua District Court Judge James Johnston sentenced him to six months home detention and 180 hours of community service for his 12th drink-driving conviction. He also was disqualified from holding or obtaining a licence for two years. Is this evidence of our justice system working for the safety of the community?
Why was this repeat offender and drunk driving killer not incarcerated for life?
The courts are handing off young offenders to impotent youth agencies, meanwhile on the streets of the Tron the problem is growing for all to see – teens getting involved in violent crime that is escalating.
Who takes responsibility? Who among the Hamilton based government agencies and support networks has the resources and capability to deal with the teen crime that will only get more violent and have increasing negative impact on brand Tron?
Here are a couple of things that might help: Abandon Youth Aid – its not working. It’s a soft option. Send young violent offenders to the Army for boot camp training on first violent offence. Re-establish Borstal for serious offenders.
Hamilton has to face the reality the city brand is in trouble. If young offenders continue to grab national headlines for violent crime, the Hamilton city brand is going to quickly erode from being the family city of choice to the city to avoid.
City marketing is at a crossroads. Connect the crime dots like I did and there is an underbelly of embedded teen crime culture working on the city’s streets.
The Tron – city of the criminal future.
Crime is the business of Hamilton and teen criminal business is good. It’s violent and it’s high profile.
masses.
It should be noted that this new policy is radically at odds with the service provided in the past. For thirteen years, with only one, notable exception, posties have done their job, ascending the 21 steps as they would any incline in a suburban environment. The Hamilton central business district is flat, offering no natural challenges of the mountainous variety.
I would have thought that a few stairs here and there would provide an interesting point of difference. They certainly would not kill anyone, least of all the robust types engaged in what was once believed to be a noble, worthwhile profession, if not a calling akin to that of the religious. We are not talking Sisyphus and his rock here. After all, how do their colleagues cope traversing the hills of Wellington or Baldwin St in Dunedin? Perhaps they breed ’em
Richard Swainson is a Stuff columnist