It is heartening that a community such as Paihia can rally to help police catch attackers of tourists.
But it's a sad indictment on some of the people who live here that a community even has to.
The intelligence level of people who rob tourists is extraordinarily low.
They are naturally thick, or have been stupefied by alcohol or drugs, and have no idea what they are doing.
Rob a tourist and you create two victims - the visitor and the region, and its reputation.
At Easter three English visitors were robbed at knifepoint of their car and other possessions, leaving them with the clothes they wore.
A few days later a Canadian accepted a late-night lift to a party, and was robbed and left on the roadside.
Three men from Kawakawa and Pakaraka have been arrested in relation to the second robbery, thanks to police and staff at a Paihia bar.
Canadian and British backpackers spoken to by the Advocate were very gracious about the robberies, and said they still felt safe in Northland - probably because if you come from Britain, the likelihood of being mugged is higher than it is in Northland.
It doesn't mean that we shouldn't aspire to have no muggings here though, after all, the region's comparative safety internationally is one of the reasons people come here.
Last October five Japanese tourists had their car broken into and most of their gear stolen.
They left, traumatised.
The Advocate co-ordinated an appeal for them, and put together an itinerary for the girls, which included overnight stays and tourist trips in the region when they came back a week later.
People were only too happy to help.
One of the girls though, didn't come back.
She did not want to return, and her memory of Northland is forever clouded by the act of the idiot who stole her possessions.
If we as a community tolerate tourism attacks, eventually the tourists will stop coming.
The region's economy will lose, and we lose when the robbers turn on us.
In that case tolerating tourism attacks merely makes us as stupid as the attackers.
Three of the whales succumbed on the shore.