About 30 people were arrested by police in Auckland over the weekend. Photo / File
About 30 people were arrested by police in Auckland over the weekend. Photo / File
A special police operation targeting property and vehicle crime saw 80 extra police officers on patrol in Auckland city at the weekend. The Herald rode along with officers to see first-hand what is happening on the city streets.
"Who the f*** are you?"
That was the question a bleary-eyed young woman - who was so intoxicated she could only be woken from slumber by being lifted up by a policewoman - asked me.
"If the pigs weren't here, I would f*** you up," she added.
So I fetched her shoes from beside the pile of rubbish she had been sleeping on and passed them to her in the back of the police car, where she had been placed after she was arrested for breaching her bail conditions.
Before her wake-up call at 1.30am on Saturday morning, the 18-year-old was passed out beside four other teens - two as young as 16 - in the innercity alleyway that runs behind the Herald's Albert St headquarters.
Atop dirty mattresses and cardboard boxes, amongst food wrappers, cigarette butts and old clothing, the five teens slept under filthy bedding.
Sadly, the group would be just one of 25 incidents involving juveniles that police attended during their weekend operation - and the interaction far from unique,according to Inspector Vaughn Graham.
"If they are sleeping rough down there, it's likely that they are buying into the general [crime] that's going on," he said.
Obscured by stained sleeping bags and a duvet inner coloured grey with grime, one of the boys was so well known to police he could be identified just by his hat, that poked about 10cm above his blanket.
Name checks were carried out and it was discovered he was also breaching his bail conditions, faced an active charge for aggravated robbery and had crossed paths with some of the same officers the night before.
Along with the other 16-year-old, and amid a lot of yelling and swearing, he was loaded into the back of a paddywagon and was taken back to Auckland City Police station before he would be taken to his home in Glenn Innes for the second night in a row.
His friend was to be be taken to his home in Manurewa.
The woman spent the night in the cells before a court appearance on Saturday morning.
A 17-year-old with the group made his own way from the alleyway, while the eldest went back to sleep before telling officers there was, "No worries" for disturbing him.
Auckland City Police Blitz
About 30 people were arrested, 20 failed breath-alcohol tests and six stolen cars were found during a police blitz in Auckland city this weekend, preliminary data shows.
The operation targeted vehicle and property crime and ran from early Friday morning until early today with a focus on criminals from other regions travelling into the city to commit offences.
Inspector Vaughn Graham said final numbers would not be known until later in the week, but preliminary numbers showed a mixed bag of successes and frustrations for police.
Police caught 20 people drink driving over the weekend. Photo / File
"Despite highlighting the operation through the media, we still had a lot of people picked up," he said.
Police set-up about 30 checkpoints and pulled over close to 160 vehicles with a focus on preventing criminals from outside the district coming into the city to commit offences.
"We definitely had people from outside the area breaking into cars and in stolen cars, and know a lot of people from our area were in other places as well."
Police recovered about six stolen cars and made 30 arrests.
There were also close to 18 warnings issued and 25 "incidents" involving people aged under 17-years-old.
Mr Graham said nearly 1850 breath tests were conducted, with 20 people found to be behind the wheel with readings above the legal limit.
The high number of drink drivers was disappointing, he said.
"There was a lot of drink driving, particularly on Saturday we had a lot of drink driver processing and that's really disappointing that people still haven't got the safety message that they are putting themselves in danger and putting other members of the public in danger."
Known burglary hotspots - in both residential and commercial areas - were also a focus and Mr Graham said "people of interest" were picked up.
Transport hubs were also patrolled in conjunction with Transdev Auckland, the company that operates the passenger rail network.
The Auckland City police district runs between Herne Bay to the north, St Heliers to the east, Onehunga to the south and Avondale to the west and includes Waiheke and Great Barrier islands.
