This picture was posted to the Rolleston Community Group Facebook page last week. Photo / Supplied
This picture was posted to the Rolleston Community Group Facebook page last week. Photo / Supplied
Two teenagers have been caught on camera tagging a wall in Rolleston in broad daylight - as concerns about increasing youth crime in the Selwyn district grow.
A Rolleston Community Group member on Facebook uploaded the above photo of the offenders, who police say were aged just 14, near Rolleston Reserve.
Offenders aged 14 were also responsible for the theft of a car and other vehicle break-ins in the Prebbleton area over the weekend.
It follows the aggravated robbery of the Prebbleton Dairy last week, where the offenders were aged between 10 and 14. Police have also identified them.
Police apprehended five joyriding youths who allegedly dumped a stolen car and had stolen another one in Prebbleton two days prior.
One of them was also believed to be responsible for leaving obscene graffiti on a family home.
The Prebbleton Dairy. Photo / George Heard
Police say the level of offending and violence being perpetrated by young offenders has escalated in the district.
"Social media platforms are being used to sensationalise and glorify ram-raids, serious assaults, and other criminal and anti-social behaviour amongst our young people," said the district's police crime prevention manager, Senior Sergeant Anna Lloyd.
Lloyd appealed to residents to ensure they report offending, as police rely heavily on the community.
"Police youth aid officers try and steer young people back into better choices by working alongside their family, but we can only address what we know about," Lloyd said.
"If you see something, or something strikes you as being out of the ordinary, contact police on 111 if urgent and happening now, or 105 if non-urgent."
Parents also need to do their best to keep track of where their children are and who they are associating with.
"We see good children get dragged into anti-social behaviour very quickly when they begin hanging around in little gangs and getting into mischief," Lloyd said.
"The hours of 3-6pm are particularly important - that is the time when young people will congregate together without supervision and we see increased reporting of assaults, etc."
The two teenagers were caught on camera tagging a wall in Rolleston in broad daylight. Photo / Supplied
Many of the offenders came in from outside the district. The Prebbleton Dairy robbers are believed to be a mix of local and Christchurch youths – one from as far away as New Brighton.
Police had also noticed an increase in the number of 11 and 12-year-old children vaping, and an increasing number of children being stood down from schools because of this.
Selwyn Community Patrol spokesman Errol Wood said the patrol is doing all it can to boost numbers as youth crime increases, training up as many new recruits as possible. There has been an influx of people wanting to join the patrol.
In addition, a Rolleston community patrol group, which is relatively new, will merge with Selwyn Community Patrol, which is a member of Community Patrols of New Zealand.
Wood said this will give the Selwyn group even more members.
The money the Rolleston group had raised would go towards a second patrol vehicle, based at Rolleston. The current patrol vehicle is based at Lincoln.
The Selwyn Community Patrol has about 50 members now, and he expected by the end of next year it will be about 70.
Adding each member took several months, as they had to be police vetted and have on-the-ground training with current members.
Wood said there are three patrol shifts - daytime, evenings until 11pm, and nights from 11pm to 3am. However, only one shift is undertaken each day. He expected the anticipated growth in numbers could enable two shifts per day.
The Selwyn patrol covers a large area of the district, but having higher volunteer numbers will help it do a better job of keeping police informed of criminal activity in the area.
"It gives us a chance of spotting the bad guys," Wood said.
"It's a big area; we are only in one place at a time. It improves our chances of spotting incidents that need to be recorded."
The patrol has had success recently, assisting police following the ram-raid of the Lincoln Dairy last month.
Wood said patrol members alerted police to the presence of a suspicious car at Tai Tapu believed to be connected to the crime.
Selwyn Mayor Sam Broughton said he is set to talk with police this week about any issues or trends officers are facing and to see if the district council might be able to offer support.
"I'm in regular contact with our police in Selwyn, who do a great job in maintaining Selwyn's record as one of the safes places to live in New Zealand," Broughton said.
