Police approach reaps rewards

A proactive approach to policing has paid dividends at Omaha this summer.

Despite large numbers of young people converging at the popular beach resort, there were no arrests or charges laid.

Warkworth’s Sergeant Mark Stallworthy, who was the Forward Commander of the New Year’s Eve (NYE) policing operation, said it was a great result off the back of a low-level approach by officers.

“We adopted a preventative model where we go into Omaha leading up to NYE, talk to the kids, engage with them and build rapport. It’s important to have that connection because you can’t corral 750 to 1000 kids.

“We were out there every night from December 27 to January 3 and deployed 20 staff, up from 12 last year based on our risk assessment – it was all hands to the pump.”

The operation also involved community groups and police coordinated with the Omaha residents and ratepayers, as well as Insite Security.

Stallworthy said Omaha had increasingly become a summer destination for young people, particularly over NYE.

“Omaha these days is a youth hotspot, like the Whangamata of Auckland. Generally, they’re too young for the local music festivals and range in age from 14 to 17 years old.”

He said officers took a zero-tolerance approach to alcohol, tipping it out immediately when found.

“There was no alcohol allowed on the streets, even if it was unopened which some kids didn’t realise.”

Police also dealt with young people crashing house parties, with locations spreading rapidly via social media platforms.

“We had one resident with 40 kids jumping over their fence. We used a gradual clear-out – turned off the music, turned on the lights and made sure no alcohol was on the street afterwards. It was a low-level, calm, collected approach to clearing out a party.

“We had a contingency plan of a team policing unit, but didn’t need to use it. We were working with the community to ensure people were having fun safely.”

Stallworthy said the behaviour this year was an improvement on last summer, which was also relatively quiet.

“Last year we had a youth firing fireworks into the crowd but nothing like that happened this NYE. No damage, no fights, so it was great.

“The behaviour at Hidden Valley was also excellent and everyone in attendance was very polite, Matakanarama near Leigh was well organised, and the Six60 gig was an amazing way to end the peak summer operation.”

Meanwhile, Warkworth was quiet over NYE without any incidents or arrests.

The next busy holiday period for police would be Auckland Anniversary Weekend, he said.

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Bad weather keeps coastguard quiet

Kawau Volunteer Coastguard experienced a quieter holiday period than last year with skipper Paul Steinkamp saying poor weather over the festive season had limited boating activity, resulting in a reduced number of incidents.

“It was a fairly windy time so there weren’t as many people in the water as you might have expected.

And there was plenty of rain keeping people at home, too – the water tanks are still full and it’s January,” he said.

Despite fewer call-outs and a couple of days off, the coastguard remained operational throughout the holiday period and responded when needed, including a call-out on Christmas Day.

Steinkamp said attending this incident demonstrated their commitment to being on-call at all times.

“We’re available 24/7. The whole point is that we stay within about 20 minutes of Sandspit so we can get to the boat quickly in an emergency.”

Most of the coastguard’s responses on the water over the holidays had involved routine mechanical failures while Kawau Island had remained quiet over summer with no medical call-outs, he said.

Kawau Volunteer Coastguard call-outs can be viewed here: https://www.coastguardkawau.org.nz/news