Kia ora tātou.

Ngā mihi mahana nā ngā Pirihīmana mō te Wiki o te reo Māori. Wanaka Police are pleased to celebrate Maori Language Week.

Tuesday this week saw two separate incidents of family harm involving disputes between parents and their children which required Police assistance.

On Thursday night Police attended an assault at a bar in central Wanaka where a staff member was punched several times by an intoxicated patron. He was not keen to be taken away but spent several hours with the Police calming down. He will be appearing in court soon.

Several breath testing checkpoints were deployed in Wanaka on Friday night. Sadly three drivers were found to have exceeded the breath alcohol limit and have added that mark to their driving record. One driver was found to also be disqualified from driving, so their car was taken off their hands for 28 days.

On a lighter note, one driver decided that the checkpoint wasn’t a good idea for them, so they turned around and returned to the pub. We are prepared for such shenanigans and quickly located the driver and received a creative explanation.

On Saturday evening a 10 year old boy was struck on the footpath by a young cyclist riding carelessly where they shouldn’t be. The victim suffered a broken arm. This is a timely reminder to cyclists in Wanaka, that the correct place for their bikes is the road, with helmet (and lights at night). If anyone has any information about the identity of the bike rider, please contact Wanaka Police.

On Saturday night Police found a disturbing trend where bollards were removed from the roadside and placed dangerously in the road. These are large wooden posts and could do significant damage to a vehicle, and could amount to a serious offence.

Also on Saturday night there were several heavily intoxicated people who failed to make plans for the night and were found staggering or sleeping on our footpaths. Curling up on the footpath for a sleep in -1 degrees is a sure way to get a cold, or another pandemic. Plan your trip home and stick with your friends.

Enforcement of speed has been a focus on our roads this month. Otago/Southland is over-represented in our country’s road deaths, and we all need to do our part to make the roads safe. If you chose to exceed the speed limit in the Wanaka area, you should expect to be pulled over.

For those of you going up to Treble Cone this weekend, enjoy the end of season celebrations. Stay safe and make sure you have a sober driver.