ON THE BEAT July'10

courtesy Eastern Courier and Howick Police

28-July-10

Increasing numbers of young people are coming to our attention for driving offences, in particular breach of driver licence conditions.

The fines are expensive and the demerit points high.

While you a learner licence, you must:

- Only drive with a licensed driver (who has held a full New Zealand driver's licence for at least two years) sitting beside you, supervising your driving
- Display learner (L) plates on the front and rear of the vehicle
- Not carry passengers without approval of your supervising fully licensed driver

Also, you must obtain your learner licence before you start learning to drive.

While you hold a restricted licence:

- You may drive on your own, but not between 10pm and 5am
- Not carry passengers without the supervision of a licensed driver (who has held a full New Zealand driver's licence for at least two years and is sitting beside you)

If you can not meet the above conditions, its is simple - you can not drive a vehicle.

The reason we have a three-step licensing system is to ensure young people develop the skills and knowledge to drive a vehicle safely and to keep our roads safe.

Breaching any of your licence conditions will result in a fine and demerit points. If you accumulate more than 100 demerit points, you will be suspended from driving for three months.

Remember, a drivers licence is a privilege, not a right! you cannot accept the responsibility that comes with having a driver's licence then please, don't drive

Constable Telesia Neilson, Youth Aid Officer, Howick

23-July-10

When it comes to perceptions about the levels of crime it is often the elderly who have the greatest fear. Interestingly it is the elderly who are least likely to become the victims of crime.

But there are some crimes where the elderly are vulnerable.

Credit card fraud is something that the elderly can be susceptible to. The scenario goes something like this. A thief steals (or perhaps finds) a credit or eftpos card. They then contact the cardholder and pretending to be the bank or the police will ask the cardholder for the PIN number.

For years, banks and police have been telling people to never give their PIN number to anyone, no matter how insistent the caller may be. Nevertheless, many elderly people do so, and as a consequence they lose all their money.

Never ever give your PIN to anyone. If you are contacted by someone claiming to be the bank or the police hang up the phone then call your local bank and branch immediately.

Elderly people are often sucked into engaging the services of bogus tree cutters. The supposed tree cutter will often pressure an elderly person into paying them, often up front, for cutting trees that usually don’t need to be cut.

Sometimes the job is performed, often it’s not. Sometimes the tree cutter will demand more and more money until the victim has paid out literally hundreds of dollars for a job that wasn’t required in the first place.

If you are approached by a tree cutter looking for work our advice is to politely send them on their way, make a note of their registration number then call the police.

It’s not just trees that these con-men will focus on. They may offer to clean windows, clean out guttering, or do some painting.

Whichever the scenario, they’re all just a way of getting money from naive residents who struggle to say no. Don’t be fooled, if in doubt say no.

Remember to look twice for bikes.

Sergeant Keith Olsen Howick police

14-July-10

As I get ready for another day at work I am still concerned by what appears to be the lack of ownership from our local community for our local community.

Don’t get me wrong, there are people in the community who are doing their bit and more, but I do believe that in regard to crime and suspicious activity, much of it goes unreported.

At local meetings people have approached me to say how they saw a suspicious person walking up and down a neighbour’s driveway.

They’ve thought it looked suspicious but have felt police would be too busy to deal with ‘‘a person walking up and down driveways’’.

They’ve gone on to say the person hadn’t committed a crime and that he wasn’t hurting anyone.

Let me give you the lowdown on that person’s probable actions. The reason they are walking up and down driveways is that they are looking for potential houses to burgle.

They are looking for opportunities that could help them steal an easy dollar.

On each driveway they walk down they are looking to see if anyone else is watching. For every driveway they go down unapproached they are getting closer to their goal of a burglary.

I would have no problem being called out to have a talk to that person to find out what they are doing. I would prefer to know that the person is there for a legitimate reason.

If you see something suspicious in your local community call 111 to report it.

On a similar note, if you know something about some stolen property, know a burglar or suspect a burglar, or have any information at all that you want to pass on to police call Crimestoppers on 0800-555-111.

This is a service that offers complete and total confidentiality.

We need your help.

Craig Hammonds Pakuranga Community Constable

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