Head girl: Don't judge all Kaikohe youth by the actions of one group

Northland College head boy Te Kopa Kopa and head girl Aroha Lawrence (right). Photo/Debbie Beadle

Not all Kaikohe youth are like the boys who rampaged through the town on Friday night, Northland College's head girl says.

The mid north town has come under a media spotlight since groups of youths as young as 11 raided a liquor store and tried to smash their way into an iwi-owned service station.

However, head girl Aroha Lawrence, 17, says people should not assume all Kaikohe youth were like that.

"That group of boys isn't representative of all Kaikohe youth. A lot of us strive to achieve higher things in life. We have big dreams and big goals, and we want to achieve higher education."

However, Kaikohe youth who wanted to succeed had to work harder and be more determined than young people in other parts of New Zealand.

"When you're from Kaikohe no one expects much from you. They expect you to be another statistic."

Aroha said the problems stemmed from the boys' backgrounds and upbringing. It was hard to know how to fix the problem but in the short term Kaikohe needed to be more secure and more police were needed on the streets.

"We also need to teach youth that things like that aren't okay, that there are consequences to what you do."

Problems with wayward youth were not unique to Kaikohe but happened all over the country, she added.

The Year 13 student hopes to study graphic design next year.

Businessman and Kaikohe Community Patrol founder Tony Taylor said most trouble in the town was caused by about 20 dysfunctional families. Most were multi-generational beneficiaries; some had moved to Kaikohe to be close to family members in Ngawha Prison.