Taupō Police: Car chase through town ends in arrests

Road spikes, which cause extensive tyre damage, ended a police chase in Taupō last week. Photo / File

Tēnā koutou katoa. Well, the school holidays are over and the kids are back at school.

With the increase of people visiting our great town, it was pleasing to see that our crime rate remained static over the last week. What we did notice was several out-of-town offenders coming in and committing crimes.

Last week we had a stolen car from the Hawke's Bay travelling towards Taupō. One of our road policing members, on the highways keeping us all safe, stopped the car for speeding.

And as we have seen nationwide, there is a trend emerging for the drivers of these cars to ram our police vehicles and then drive off. On this occasion, our officer had the situational awareness to see what was about to happen and took avoidable action.

Our staff continually do risk assessments and reassessments when stopping vehicles and engaging in pursuits. It is not like the movies and all excitement and fun, these are stressful and tense times for the staff involved.

We were able to get staff in position and deploy road spikes. These offenders were motivated and continued driving into town with flat tyres.

As you can appreciate, Taupō was quite busy. Our staff made quick decisions and, with the wealth of experience of our people, they were able to bring the matter to a safe conclusion.

Four people were arrested and are going to be held to account through the courts and youth aid process. Unfortunately two of our vehicles were damaged, but the most important thing is no public or police staff were injured.

Senior Sergeant Fane Troy, Taupō Police. Photo / File

Over the last few weeks I have thanked a number of people and groups. This week I want to thank all our police staff for their continual hard work and putting themselves in risky situations to keep the public safe. Thanks also to their families for their understanding of what we do. As some will agree, the Police isn't just a job, it is a lifestyle.

Stay safe, Fane Troy.