KEY POINTS:
Tauranga police patrolled the streets in Papamoa yesterday as the hunt continued for a man who tried to abduct a 9-year-old girl.
The girl ignored a man who yelled at her and demanded she get into his car at the Tauranga beach suburb on Wednesday.
She ran home and told her mother who called police.
Sergeant Cameron Anderson said the increased patrols would continue at least until the end of the week.
Mr Anderson said the public had provided great feedback about the incident - on Evans Rd near Tahatai Coast School - and police were telling parents to reinforce the safety message with their children.
"Stay in groups, don't get into cars with strangers, don't be bribed to get into cars with strangers."
On Wednesday police swarmed into the area from 3pm stopping every red car, the colour of the car the girl identified.
She told the Bay of Plenty Times the man drove alongside her and stopped, opening the passenger's door. "He just said 'get in here'. I just ran off."
The girl, who was at school again yesterday, said she felt "pretty scared" by the incident, knowing what could have happened.
Her mother, who spoke on the condition the family were not identified, said she knew something was wrong the moment her daughter arrived home.
"When I opened the door I thought 'what's wrong?' She said 'a man just tried to get me in his car'."
The woman said the shock was still sinking in. "You're never safe no matter where you are. You've just got to be on your guard basically."
She would now accompany her daughter to school.
Officer in charge Detective Sergeant Lindsay Pilbrow said police were treating the case very seriously.
"The overtones are extremely sinister ... We obviously look at the most serious possible scenario."
Police are calling for any sightings of a red car that has a lop-sided rear number plate, as if it was missing a screw. The man is described as a clean-shaven European aged about 20 to 30 with dark brown hair.
- NZPA
