POLICE were called to a 16th birthday house party in Half Moon Bay last Saturday, which escalated into an “out of control” scene, with an estimated 40 to 50 youths fighting in the street.
When police attended the residential party in Sunderlands Rd at 11.50pm on Saturday night, the first unit found up to 50 youths brawling on the road and called for the Team Policing Unit as backup.
Three arrests were made for fighting; all the offenders were under 20.
Howick Police Station’s acting Senior Sergeant Michael Crabtree says one sergeant and 12 constables attended the callout. Apart from the fighting, there was no damage to other residential properties, vehicles or injury to police officers.
As with many youth get-togethers in the eastern suburbs, the senior sergeant says locals must take responsibility for their property and guests, by keeping to a strict ‘invite only’ policy and by investing in security for larger scale groups.
“I can’t put an exact number on it, but if there are say over 30 people attending a party, it would be good to organise some security and pay that security company to watch the people who are going in and out.”
Police maintain the best way to combat gatecrashers is prevention and they urge social hosts to tell immediate guests “not to invite anyone else”.
“What’s happening at the moment is there is an over-invite going on,” says Mr Crabtree. “So the occupants’ friends turn up but then they text their mates and then there’s confrontation.”
The police’s top tip for summer party planners is to “keep it invite only and obviously try to restrict the alcohol”.
Assault on pizza boy
In another incident, on Sunday night, a male offender was apprehended by police dogs after an assault on a Domino’s Pizza delivery boy as he fled the scene on foot.
Police say the assault took place at 7.15pm on Sunday on the corner of Ti Rakau Dr and Marriott St.
They received many calls by the public notifying them of the assault and wish to acknowledge those who “put themselves at risk trying to help the pizza boy”.
“This incident saw a really good number of calls and assistance from the public,” says Howick Police Sergeant Keith Olsen.
A 17-year-old male faces two charges of assault with a weapon and one of theft. They say the victim was assaulted with a tennis racket and a 1.5m metal bar.
Police say the 15-year-old pizza delivery boy was “okay”. He was injured but “not badly, an ambulance wasn’t called”.
“The pizza boy had some boxing training, so he was able to protect himself somewhat, but a metal bar against a boxer is not really very good odds,” says Sergeant Olsen.
“We want to acknowledge the aid of the public who recognised the pizza boy was in trouble and got on the phone straight away.”
Robbers hit ANZ bank
And on Monday afternoon, a male armed with a rifle robbed the ANZ bank on Highbrook Drive.
Police say the incident occurred at about 2.40pm. The robber left the bank shortly after with “an undisclosed amount of money”.
“There was definitely a firearm involved, a rifle,” says Detective Sharon Price of the Otara CIB.
The male is described as either Maori or Polynesian, aged between 20 and 25.
“He was wearing a royal blue hooded sweat shirt, with a cap on underneath his hood,” says Detective Price.
The male fled the ANZ bank scene in a stolen vehicle, driven by a second male.
The stolen vehicle was a white 2001 RVR Mitsubishi station wagon and was found abandoned in Lorien Place, East Tamaki. The vehicle is now being forensically inspected.
