Two brands targeted as car thefts soar in Masterton
Photo:
123RF
Wairarapa police say groups of criminals are behind the theft of 29 cars in just two weeks in the Waitrarapa area.
The number of thefts is an increase on the 37 vehicles that were stolen in the two months to May last year.
Wairarapa area prevention manager Senior Sergeant Gill Flower said the recent rise is believed to be down to groups of criminals operating in the area.
"There's no reason behind some of these thefts - they're doing it for their enjoyment and don't care about all damage they're doing to the cars and the impact it has on people."
Of the 29 thefts, 25 were in Masterton.
Mazda Demios and Ford Couriers have been the main target and Senior Sergeant Flower appealed to owners to be more aware of security.
"Some of the vehicles have been left unlocked, or keys left in places that are easy to access.
"People are also leaving items in their cars, and that attracts attention too.
"These offenders aren't above stealing your prescription glasses, so the less you can leave in your car, the better."
She said steering wheel locks were a cost-effective way to immobilise a car and make it less attractive to thieves.
"Some people can't afford insurance, but a steering wheel lock will mean your car is undrivable.
"It's a worthwhile investment, especially if you have to park your car on the road."
Anyone spotting suspicious behaviour should call 111.
"The faster we get a report, the quicker we can act."
Even in cases where police couldn't respond immediately, the reports helped them keep track of where offenders were operating.
"For us it's valuable intelligence.
"If you can't report something straight away, please still tell us about it by making a report through 105."
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Fear of reprisals if stalkers warned without target's knowledge
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi An anti-stalking advocate says a proposed new law has a worrying caveat in which stalkers can be warned by police about their behaviour, without the victim first being notified. The government is amending the Crime Legislation (Stalking and Harassment) Amendment Bill to enable police to act if a person has engaged in stalking behaviour twice in two years. Aotearoa Free From Stalking project lead Leonie Morris said this was a good move, but she was uneasy that stalkers could be warned about their behaviour, for fear of reprisals. "One thing that we're very concerned about is that at the moment police can notify a stalker that he has been stalking and that he'll be breaking the law if he does it again. "We're happy with that, but we don't want police to do that until they've notified the victim that that's what they're going to do and they've talked through with the victim a safety plan - because otherwise if just out of the blue he is told that she's gone to the police and the police are now saying to him, 'You need to be much more careful with your behaviour,' he could retaliate against her." Morris said the bill needed changing to ensure that before police warned stalkers, they talked to the victim about how they could keep themselves safe and whether warning a stalker might be dangerous. Another potential area for improvement involved proving whether a person had intent to deliberately stalk someone, Morris said. "The law just asks for evidence that someone knows their behaviour is likely to cause fear or distress, but how can you tell whether somebody's lying or not? "The law needs to make it more simple and straightforward… to prove that he was stalking against her will, his behaviour was unwelcome." Morris said the onus should be on the stalker to prove otherwise, not the victim. "In overseas jurisdictions, rather than just saying he knew that his behaviour would cause her fear or distress, they say he knew or ought to have known, because how do you prove what a stalker knew?" The bill unanimously passed its first reading in December and had just been through a select committee process which attracted 608 written and 62 oral submissions. The response was to strengthen the bill, including lowering the threshold to two stalking or harassment acts within 24 months rather than three within 12 months, as well as other changes - including expanding the definition of an act of stalking or harassment to include "doxxing" - the publishing of material about the person being stalked. However, Morris said just strengthening the bill was not enough. "There needs to be considerable police training. There needs to be a public awareness campaign so people know exactly what stalking is. We need stalkers to know what stalking is and we need victims to recognise stalking when it happens to them." She said police training was vital. "In recent years that we've been looking into stalking, people report to us that police don't take stalking seriously, so there needs to be a big culture change there." She said the bill was "definitely better" than what it was, but Aotearoa Free From Stalking would continue to advocate for improvements. A petition calling for stronger laws on stalking was presented to Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith last year. Photo: RNZ / Lillian Hanly Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said moves to strengthen laws against stalking reflected Parliament's concern that stalkers had been able to evade real consequences for too long. Goldsmith told Morning Report the behaviours targeted by the bill included loitering, damage to reputation, recording, tracking or following and using technology in stalking methods. Asked whether it was a hurdle to require evidence that a stalker knew their behaviour caused distress, Goldsmith pointed to police's ability to warn the stalker so that "they can be in no doubt about that". "Obviously the legislation does need to have defences, because the behaviours that are listed that may amount to stalking are very broad - things like damaging reputation or loitering. "So we don't want people to be unable to defend themselves against claims, and so that's a basic expectation." Goldsmith said legislation was catching up with technology, and took into account modern harassment and stalking such as tracking, following or publishing recordings. He said the ultimate aim was to reduce the number of victims of serious, violent and sexual offending. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Te Ahu a Turanga - Manawatū Tararua Highway open for motorists
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi has announced eight years after the Manawatū Gorge Road closed its replacement is open to the public. Te Ahu a Turanga is a 11.5-kilometre four-lane highway that runs between Palmerston North, weaving through windfarms to the Tararua town of Woodville. The $824 million route replaces the State Highway 3 through the Manawatū Gorge which was shut due to slips in 2017. Project manager Grant Kauri said the sight of the first vehicles on the road on Wednesday morning was a special moment. "The closure of the Manawatū Gorge Road had such a significant impact on people in Manawatū and Tararua. "We know the surrounding communities have struggled with the closure so being able to build them a significantly more resilient, safer and efficient road has been a huge privilege." Kauri said it would encourage more travel and support economic growth in the lower and central North Island and the East Coast. Joy Kopa, from the Positively Woodville community group, said residents and businesses in the town had been holding their breath for the opening. "It is strange to think we now have a young generation who have never travelled through 'the gorge' and have no memory of the road that served Woodville for so long. "This new highway will be the new gateway to Tararua and Woodville is proud to be the town that welcomes travellers to our district." Stakeholders at the ribbon cutting ceremony last Saturday. Photo: RNZ / Pokere Paewai A ribbon cutting ceremony was held for the road on Saturday . At the time Transport Minister Chris Bishop said it was an important day for the local communities. "It has been a very large investment from the government but a very important one, and it's going to be a fantastic resilient new road and be one that will last for generations to come." It's expected the 11.5km route will take less than 15 minutes to drive, an improvement on the windy alternative routes over the Saddle Road and Pahiatua Track that were in use for the past eight years. Chair of Horizons Regional Council Rachel Keedwell said she hoped the new highway would be a much safer drive then the alternatives. Horizons Regional Council spanned communities on both sides of the ranges, and Keedwell said the closure had been a big deal for the Tararua District in particular. "It's impacted on how people get to work, it's impacted on how the community joins in to Palmerston North, and financially, people have borne the brunt of that, businesses as well as locals, and so bringing the connection back together it just makes it seamless from one side of the region to the other."

RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
Far North town Moerewa burned out on burnouts
Police say the organisers are cooperating with police. Photo: 123RF Community leaders in the small Far North town of Moerewa are calling for a long-standing culture of doing "burnouts" to end before it ends in tragedy. According to locals, people burning rubber and smoking up homes was a weekly occurrence. Roddy Hapati Pihema said there were burnout marks on almost every street in Moerewa. Pihema, who headed the Taumatamakuku Community Residents Representative Committee, said the problem was so widespread even the police did not know how to deal with it. "The police have basically given up. Half the community wants the behaviour to stop but you still have this generation where it has become part of their modern-day culture. "At a tangi, they might go out and do burnouts on the road. It's the same when people have their 21st or a big birthday. "It's become part of the culture of not just Moerewa, but everywhere you look in the North." For Pihema, the issue was personal. He said a relative of his was killed when he was struck on a footpath by a motorcyclist who was doing burnouts at night about 20 years ago. "I've felt what it's like when things go terribly wrong when you lose a family member that way. "This is not the type of culture that we need to be passing on to the next generation. The thrill of doing burnouts should never ever be more important than the safety of our community and our community members." In 2015, Pihema said students at Moerewa Primary gave a letter to the mayor and police, asking them to make their town safer. Piehma - also the local board member for the Moerewa Kawakawa subdivision - said they had tried to honour this request by introducing mitigators like speed bumps. But he said the local board and police were under-resourced, and needed support to address the issue. Moerewa. Photo: RNZ / Lucy Xia Moerewa Civil Defence volunteer and Otiria Marae trustee, Mike Butler, said burnouts were causing a myriad of issues but some residents were too intimidated to speak up. "When a person does a burnout, tyre smoke goes into people and kaumata and kuia's homes. "Rubber left on the roads causes a massive headache. It blocks up our drains, and when we get Mother Nature at her best it can't handle it because of all the blockages of debris, rubbish, leaves and also tyres." He said children walking to school were also cutting their feet on pieces of smashed glass. Another resident, Pamela-Ann Simon-Baragwanath, said locals were cleaning up the mess left behind by street racers every week. "When they do these burnouts they dump rubbish in large volumes. I cleaned up the old KiwiRail entrance four or five months ago and we pulled out about seven to eight trailer loads to the max, we hand-pulled all of that out and took it to the dump." She said the litter was seeping into the waterways and attracting rats, and the community was fed up. She wanted to see more cameras installed as a deterrent, and burnouts contained to a location that would not cause ongoing problems. Police and the Far North District Council have been contacted for comment. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.