‘We’ll come knocking with a tow truck’
A tyre worn down to the metal belts, that could have burst at any moment, was one of the scary sights seen by police seizing boy racer vehicles.
Police executed several search warrants in the Waikato region early yesterday morning, with six vehicles being impounded this week.
The mission was the second one undertaken under Operation Shadow, with a new police team set up to target illegal street racing gaining traction.
It comes as tensions between illegal street racers and the public are again on the rise, with a loader being driven at a crowd of cars in Huntly over the weekend.
Ten search warrants were carried out in the midweek operation and Waikato road policing manager Inspector Jeff Penno said the vehicles not seized yesterday could still be seized as soon as police saw them.
Penno was disturbed by the tyre condition seen in the photograph and said it could have burst at any moment.
‘‘That vehicle was driving on the roads, driving towards you, and that tyre could burst at any moment.
Or if it goes around a wet corner, it is not going around the corner.’’
The impounded vehicles were from across Hamilton, Cambridge and Nga¯ ruawa¯ hia.
In a previous operation undertaken in May, five cars were also seized.
Operation Shadow was first set up in March 2019.
A new team was formed in March 2021 to work within the operation in response to a string of incidents.
The seized cars would be impounded for 28 days, while the owners were also given an order telling them to offer up the identity of the person driving at the time of the reported incident.
These vehicles would also be green stickered, meaning they had to pass a warrant of fitness to be able to get back on the road.
Penno said that like the last operation, this one originated from public tip-offs which police had worked up to the level where they could obtain a warrant.
‘‘We really are grateful for people letting us know.
‘‘People who engage in these actions need to realise if anyone can see them, and they let police know, we will come knocking with a tow truck.’’
He said police encouraged anyone who witnessed anything anti-social or illegal to take down the vehicle details if it was safe to do so, and get photos and videos if they could.
After an incident in Huntly where a man drove a loader through a crowd of boy racers, Penno urged people not to take the law into their own hands.
‘‘That is our job, to deal with this group, and we will deal with it.’’
For anyone approaching them with information and feeling like nothing was being done, Penno reassured them everything was looked at and it just took time.
‘‘It does take time to work these up to a court standard.
‘‘Every call that comes in we go through with a fine-tooth comb and anything we can do, we will do.’’
When asked how long Operation Shadow would be going for, Penno said as long as they kept seeing this kind of offending.
Anyone who witnesses any anti-social or illegal driving can call police on 105 or give information anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.