Summer has well and truly hit. While you’re enjoying the warm and sunny conditions, spare a thought for your local police, wearing what is possibly the hottest summer uniform ever assembled.

Don’t make us run too far at the moment.

In between refreshing waters, we’ve had a few jobs keeping us occupied.

There has been significant demand on our roads through the week. On Tuesday there was a serious crash on State Highway 6 near Makarora involving two cars in a head on crash. Six passengers were seriously injured but miraculously no fatalities.

On Thursday a car rolled off Cardrona Valley Road near the ski field with four people on board.

Again, they are lucky to have only minor injuries and a deceased fence. This incident comes down to distraction while driving.

A positive trend on the roads was that our blitz of drink driving checkpoints on Friday night saw no people over the limit. While a small sample, this is very positive news from our perspective and gives us a target for the upcoming weekend.

Sadly, on Monday we did stop someone drink driving at 3pm on Ardmore Street for their fourth time. They will explain themselves to the judge next week.

A vehicle was stolen from a driveway on Friday night. It has identified a security risk for owners of modern cars, which may have an ‘online’ way of accessing the car remotely without a key. For those with such a vehicle, the access codes or passwords for online accounts need to be treated securely as if they were the key. Don’t worry, we’re not quite at the point where the car drives off and reports to SkyNet.

There has been a spate of shoplifting incidents at some of our major chain stores. It’s 2023 and security cameras make this activity a fool’s errand. We’ll be knocking on some doors soon to apprehend the offenders.

Over the week police recovered two very expensive bikes which were taken from unsuspecting owners. While one was recovered through good police work and a search warrant, the second just showed up in the bushes outside the Police Station. That bike arrived with more questions than answers, but a happy owner at least!

On Saturday police attended an assault in the middle of the day on Helwick Street. No one was hurt but a very odd time and place for violence in Wānaka. Enquiries to identify the offender are ongoing.

Finally, police received a couple of reports of people having purchases racked up on their credit card, despite still having the card in their possession. If you do see transactions that you don’t recognise, contact your bank immediately to get a block in place. In some cases, transactions can be reversed if this is done quickly.

Stay safe out there.