Tūrangi police are cracking down on speeders. Photo / NZME
Tūrangi police are cracking down on speeders. Photo / NZME
Kia ora koutou.
I hope you all had a great Matariki.
In the past month, we've had a few burglaries over the Taupahi Rd side of town. It looks like the offenders are coming in via the river trail and going to holiday homes that back onto it.
We executed a warrant last week and we are charging a local adult with burglary in relation to one of those. He is still in custody and inquiries are ongoing with him around that and outstanding property. We did get a property item back, worth several hundred dollars, which the victim was happy with, but a lot more work to go there.
This is a good time to remind everyone that if you own a holiday home, you should make sure your security is up to scratch. Especially if you are away for a while, you should try to have a neighbour or a friend check on your dwelling, make sure they are locked, secured and everything is away.
There's security itself too, like alarms, CCTV cameras, all those things are fantastic and are a lot more affordable these days. You don't want to be the person who thinks afterwards "oh, I wish I'd put in an alarm or a lock on the shed".
The other side is if you live in the neighbourhood and you see something suspicious, call 111 and let us know. Don't hesitate, let us make the decision. Don't call your mother first, don't call your family friend, don't post it on Facebook first - call us and let us deal with it. If we don't know, we can't do anything.
Following the national campaign for safer roads, we've also been targeting our highways in the past month and we've picked up a lot of speedsters, some of them at very excessive speeds. There was someone going 160km/h in an 80km/h zone and another going 105km/h in a 50km/h zone.
Those sorts of speeds are ridiculous and could contribute to our road toll. We have been doing a lot of work in this area, it's not just out-of-towners either, there are locals speeding too. They need to slow down on the road because speed kills.
Tūrangi Police Sergeant Te Reipa Morunga. Photo / NZME
Drive to the conditions and be aware of your surroundings. There have been two crashes in the past month where a dog has run onto the road, and another where sunstrike has had drivers get into some sticky situations.
Speaking of dogs, there have been a lot of dogs roaming the streets. We're working with compliance officers from Taupō to try to sort it out. They had an operation here last week where they all came to Tūrangi, about six utes, and picked up five roaming dogs in about two hours. If you are a dog owner, make sure you have them kept securely inside your property.
The school holiday is upon us now and there will be a lot more young people out and about so be safe and be careful. If you're a parent or a caregiver, make sure you know where your young ones are, especially at night. Don't just send them uptown without adult supervision, you have responsibilities as a parent or caregiver.
