Hello Wānaka, here is a round-up of the blue teams’ activities, past and upcoming.

Well, the old five-finger discount is still a big problem here in town. This is not restricted to the larger shopping facilities, but others seem to be suffering as well.

Shoplifters caught in recent weeks will go in front of the judiciary in Queenstown. We all realise the cost of living is high but shoplifting affects all of us, so police will continue to take a hard line when dealing with it.

A good Easter weekend with Wheels at Wānaka and the jet sprints on. This brought many visitors into town and hopefully some economic assistance to the local economy. Overall, a successful weekend and very well behaved by the attendees.

There were, however, some incidents of disorderly behaviour in town during the evenings. Surprisingly alcohol was involved, who would have guessed?

And on alcohol, a couple of drink drivers were caught with infringement notices issued. One person recorded nearly four times the legal limit.

We attended a few vehicle crashes in the past couple of weeks. These have happened in both dry and heavy rain weather. Most could be contributed to a lack of attention to the road and not driving to the conditions. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured.

It should be noted that one of the crashes resulted in the vehicle hitting the bank and rolling over. The saving grace for this driver was that they had the seat belt on. If not, this could have been a very different outcome.

Therefore, we enforce the seat belt rule vigorously in the Upper Clutha for safety.

Now a friendly reminder, if you leave your car outside a shop, please take your keys with you. Saturday night saw a vehicle left outside a shop on Ardmore Street while occupants went inside. The doors were left open and the key was in the ignition, prompting another person to jump in and drive off.

The vehicle was recovered by the owner a short time later and only a short distance away but could have been lost. Now you may feel the actions were a bit stupid by the driver, but it is a trend in the area to leave your car unlocked and keys in it and take for granted nothing will happen. As Bob Dylan said in the 60’s, 'times they are a changing'. Don’t get caught by complacency.

With the nights closing in we are concerned that there is a lack of cyclists with lights on. Not only is this a legal requirement, but a safety issue with a few near misses of cyclists in the dark being recorded.

This includes cycle helmets; I don’t recall a local bylaw being passed that excuses cyclists from adhering to the laws so please wear your helmet and get lights on your bike. Your cell phone light isn’t sufficient either, get some lights that can be fixed and be seen.

And finally, the Blast programme for year nine and ten students starts up again on Wednesday, April 26. This is a fitness programme in conjunction with Police, Kahu Youth and the Fit Collective. It runs two mornings a week and is aimed at wellbeing, nutrition, resilience, and fun. Past activities have included the Police PCT fitness test, working with FENZ, Mt Iron walks and strength training at local gyms.

If parents or possible participants want any more information, please feel free to contact the Wānaka Police Prevention team.

Till next time, stay safe, stay warm and have a great week.