Police after-ball crackdown mocked online

File photo / Bay of Plenty Times

Thousands of young people have gone online to mock and protest the police's crackdown on high school after-ball parties.

Firms like Zeesh Event Management and Afterglo have offered organised after-ball parties for students, some at "secret" locations that students are bussed to. For tickets costing near $75, teenagers can be given all the alcohol they can drink.

But since last week, police have begun issuing warnings to schools and have crashed parties, carting away alcohol and swapping in cola.

After police raided one party in an Onehunga warehouse on Sunday, young people flocked to websites to vent, with the most common refrain being "f*** the police". More than 1600 have signed up to one Facebook group.

"thy [police are] not pretecting us..it better we all f*** up in a secured building than wandern the streets which half th people ended up doing.. everyone was f**d that nyt [night] anyway ahha was AWESOME NYT!" Ebony wrote on the page.

Others were more to the point.

"F*** THE POLICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" said Lizzy.

The page describes itself with the blurb: "Dont you hate paying $60 to go to a secret location to sip on coke and dance with people you see everyday at school".

Other sites, with membership reaching hundreds, go by names like "This afterball is shut down ... LOL jks everyone party at mine", "I cant wait for the redbull and water afterball..LOL JK" and "Free drinks at afterball LOL jks Free basic coke".

Yesterday, the Prime Minister's Chief Science Adviser issued a warning that adolescents' bodies were maturing faster than their brains; good health meant 11-year-olds reached sexually maturity while their judgment still had 10 years to develop.

A public online conversation between three young men lambasted a parent who tipped off media to Baradene College's after-ball. The school is voting today on whether to go ahead with the party.

"Whoever got Baradene in the newspaper and on the news for their afterball is a complete idiot," Jack said.

"A st peters parent wrote in because they didint want their son 2 go 2 the afterball. hes a d***," Patrick responded.

Peterson and Ben replied: "that is f***ing gay" and "F*** the police. F*** the government."

Some, however, pointed out that the parties had been illegal and police were just doing their job.

"Get over it ! oviously you guys have nothing better to do than mok [mock] a busted after ball ! and it was still fun!" said Aliesha.