Police Snippets

 

Burnout damage A number of complaints have been lodged with local police recently regarding ongoing hooning cars and burnouts at Cove Road cemetery. The vehicle activity is damaging the parking area and producing extra maintenance costs. Mangawhai police constable, Dale Wewege, says when caught the people responsible will be charged and their vehicles impounded.

Mangawhai speedsters Police have also received a large amount of phone calls from concerned residents about speedsters in Mangawhai. The complaints are particularly in regards to drivers exceeding the limit along Molesworth Drive and across the causeway. Local police say they will be clamping down on drivers who push the speed threshold and urge all road users to travel according to the conditions. People who prefer to drive at a slower rate are advised to be aware of others following behind and to pull over and let drivers pass when safe to do so. “If you are driving at a speed suited to the conditions and someone is tailgating you, note the registration number and, when stationary, ring #555,” Constable Wewege says.

Thieves throw TV Items from an early March burglary at a Cullen Street bach seemed to prove too cumbersome for thieves. The 46-inch TV, which disappeared from the holiday home, was discovered by a neighbour walking their dog and appeared to have been tossed over the fence into a grassy paddock. The burglars took a range of smaller items in the theft which was most likely executed during the night due to the lights being left on inside.

Lucky escapes In the past two weeks police have been called out to two similar traffic incidences that saw cars sliding off the road. At Langs beach, a male driver had a luck escape after losing control of his vehicle which proceeded to skid then slide down a grassy bank. The cars descent was only stopped from slipping further by a tree. A female driver on the Kaiwaka/Mangawhai highway slid off a driveway she had pulled in to, resulting with her car tipping on its side. Both incidents reported no injuries.

Storm passes Police say they received no related call outs regarding injury or damage to property in Mangawhai after the March 23/24 storm that battered most parts of the country, leaving flooding, power outages and general carnage in its wake.

Incident free Easter Police were out nationally on the roads over Easter, trying to keep the road toll down and ticketing drivers who exceeded the speed limit by 5kmh. Wellsford Sergeant Geoff Medland who was on duty throughout holiday, said that due to good weather and great surf the roads north were very busy. However visitors to Mangawhai and locals alike were well behaved over the long weekend with no incidences to report. “Everyone seemed to have a good time,” he says. “Which is what we like.”

- REPORTING/Julia Wade