Featherston fed up

Featherston has reached a tipping point.

Residents are extremely frustrated over numerous threats, break-ins, burglaries and vandalism, allegedly caused by a group of young teens.

It has been happening off and on for a few months, said Garry Thomas, chairman of the Featherston Community Board.

"We're having a lot of burglaries and houses ripped off."

The problem is the teens know they can get away with it because they are under 17, he said.

"I'm not sure what the solution is. The people have to learn what they can do and take ownership back of the town," said Mr Thomas.

Featherston resident Trish Wiblin called the police three times in one week when the teens started screaming and fighting with each other, near her house.

"These teens are taking over the town," she said. "One of the teens said 'I'm going to kill you, you better watch yourself!'."

Part of her fence was ripped down and her son's scooter stolen. She said she and many other residents are fed up with the group "causing havoc in the town" and will be going to a community meeting in August to address the issue.

Mrs Wiblin said the meeting can't come too soon.

"It seems these teens are aware that they can do whatever they want and get away with it because they are under-age."

"Basically it seems like the police can talk to the parents or they [teens] can be referred to Youth Aid."

Featherston police have previously said they use alternative actions to deal with young offenders, for example, family conferences, community work or apology letters.

Mrs Wiblin declined an apology letter as she doesn't believe they are truly sorry.

Mrs Wiblin, who has teenage children of her own, said she understands teenage mischief but these kids are going too far.

"It is getting frightening for people, my kids would happily move."

Mrs Wiblin said she made five calls to the police in one month and they didn't always show up. "It appears nothing can be done, that's the impression I get, anyway."

She said the teens are often drunk and some of them look as young as 10. Another Featherston resident, Shel Hancox, said a greater police presence would be good but a sense of perspective was needed.

"The reality is that there is much more going on in towns such as Masterton than down here, in spite of what some people seem to think."

"There are parts of that town where I would not walk after dark and some very dodgy people, too, whereas in Featherston I do feel relatively safe."

Mr Thomas said he believes the teens are living in homes owned by Trust House.

Mrs Wiblin said she is surrounded by Trust House homes.

She said the trust's argument is that the teens have to live somewhere. "But can't they get somebody evicted if they [the teens] are disturbing the peace? They aren't obviously vetting their tenants, if they are causing problems."

A Trust House spokesman said it was aware of the problem and had received many complaints.

He said Trust House did what most rental property companies did; it uses background checks.

But how are they supposed to know if the kids are troublemakers, he said.

"We don't know the criminal convictions of children."

The spokesman said there were remedies available to use.

One of the terms of renting a Trust House home is that tenants don't cause a nuisance.

"Going by the number of phone calls we are getting, they are," he said.

He said he had visited one of the houses in Featherston to let the tenants know about the complaints.

"I told them they need to be aware they will stick out in a small town and they'll need to behave accordingly."

He said tenants have rights as well and it was not a quick process to evict someone.

An elderly Featherston resident, who did not wish to be named, said it was a problem she'd heard of but hadn't experienced directly.

"It seems they are the same kids hanging around."

She said the kids know how to avoid the community patrols at night. "They are very crafty."

The Featherston Crime Prevention and Community Support meeting will be held at 2pm, August 25, at Kiwi Hall, Bell St, Featherston.