Gidday everyone. It’s that time again to share a bit of what has been happening around the place last week.

We began the week looking for an individual from a serious incident at a campground. We did not have any luck finding them, but they were nabbed in the end by our colleagues down south.

A vehicle crash on Gladstone Road out Hāwea Flat was attended. The cause of this was water running over the road that had frozen so take care on these cold mornings and nights. Some parts don’t even see sun at the moment, so ice is about.

Some miscreant, likely drunk, damaged vehicles on Ardmore Street on their way home from a night out in the weekend.

A group of individuals, who shall remain un-named and genderless, from a certain educational establishment, which shall remain unknown, fleeced a local accommodation outlet when they failed to pay the required fee. They scarpered back to where they came from. Thankfully there is one decent individual in the group who had the conscience to call in and arrange getting the remaining balance sorted.

There has been a bit of work going on at the Riverbank Rd / Ballantyne Rd intersection. Drivers are treating it like a give way and as a result, crashes are occurring. If you see us there, we’re not out for a stitch up. It’s because a marked police car makes people stop. This is glaringly obvious when someone makes a go-for-it as they roll up spot us and slam on the brakes.

Two crashes were attended on the Crown Range. One was not so serious, and the other was a head on. Thank you to all those people for your patience while the scene was managed and then reopened. It is a big decision for us to shut the roads and isn’t done so lightly.

A checkpoint on Friday night stopped a number of vehicles with one drink driver taken off the streets. There was some drug paraphernalia also found and confiscated.

Driving behaviour and complaints seemed to be the flavour of the day on Saturday. Again, the presence of a marked car had some effect on a vehicle going to overtake a car doing 95kmh, saw us, then pulled back in. An individual was also dealt with for failing to remain at a crash a few weeks earlier.

More road policing on Monday with a school focus. Watch your speeds around schools and buses with all the kids and whatnot. The day was capped off with another crash on Riverbank Road. A brief moment of inattention caused a car to end up flipping. Nobody was hurt and no doubt the driver got a bit of a wakeup call.

Thanks all, have great rest of the week.