Night Patrol: Turning the beat around

BY CLIO FRANCIS

Boosted by an influx of extra officers, Counties Manukau police are trialling new schemes to tackle the area's crime rates. If successful, the initiatives will be introduced nationwide.

Reporter Clio Francis and photographer John Selkirk spent a Friday night on the beat.

Manurewa's reputation for mean streets is matched by the numbers.

Nearly 30,000 burglaries in Counties Manukau in the past three years - an average of 25 a day. Sixty homicides in the same period.

If you live in the area, there is a high chance that you or someone you know has been the victim of crime.

The worst neighbourhoods can be a hard place to live, which means it's an even tougher place to be a cop.

9.45pm Night shift briefing, Manurewa police station

Sergeant Phil Patterson outlines the night's police intelligence information.

The six young constables study the PowerPoint presentation - last night the Manurewa squad retrieved three stolen cars, some within minutes of them being stolen.

"That was good going last night, guys. Let's have another one of those nights tonight."

9.50pm

An electronic screen flashes the faces of notable criminals and statistics for the area in the past 24 hours.

Yesterday there were five burglaries, today there has been one.

Last week there were 33 burglaries in the area. The subject lines flash by, there's a "hot burglar" on the loose.

He's been targeting homes between 8am and 4pm. It's believed he may be a well-known thief who is currently on bail - the officers are urged to check on him frequently.

There's also a new registered sex offender in the neighbourhood, who will require bail checks and frequent patrols.

The next subject line says "Naughty Juvie": a young offender has moved into the neighbourhood from another part of South Auckland. He is 15 and already has 68 convictions.

Another mugshot flashes up on screen. It's a baby-faced burglar who regularly beats up his partner.

Police fear the violence is escalating.

"Please bail-check once an evening.

Last event the victim had to play dead to get him to stop. He checked her pulse and splashed water on her face - when he realised she wasn't dead he continued to stomp on her head," the screen says.

10.15pm I-Car patrol

The I-Car (the I is for incident) is the first line of response to emergency phone calls.

The constables are paired up for the evening and collect their gear.

They are assigned a car for the night and handed a list of names to bail-check during their shift. If they have time, that is.

It's busy in Manurewa on a Friday night and there's a long list of names to get through.

10.20pm: You're Nicked

I'm teamed up in a car with constables Nick Hargis and Nicola Weastell. Mr Hargis has been with the police for two years, Ms Weastell just three months. She grew up in Taihape but so far loves her job in the sprawling urban area. Mr Hargis gives a run-down on a standard night in Manurewa: "The bread and butter out here are domestics. It's 24-7 with those out here. It never stops."

10.29pm: Disorderly behaviour

The communications centre radios with the first call of the night, a garage party in south Manurewa.

We arrive within two minutes.

Six drunk people are standing outside. Smashed beer bottles litter the ground and a man with a cast on his leg has a bleeding foot.

They tell the officers it was just "a little family fight". "Someone was being a bastard, that's all." None of the group will co-operate with the police.

10.39pm: 111 hangup

The comms centre has fielded an emergency call but the caller has hung up without speaking.

There is no previous history with the house.

Ms Weastell says 111 hangups happen regularly: "We always go check those out, just in case. It's a matter of making sure people are OK."

10.42pm: Domestic incident

We arrive at a simple weatherboard house and a man, 48, is waiting near the gate for us.

He tells Mr Hargis that he and his partner have had an argument:

"It's just a fight that got out of hand; we've been having the same fight for two years."

The man's mother made the 111 call after a fight broke out between her son and his 28-year- old partner.

The man's partner, who is holding their three-week-old baby, is upset and doesn't want to talk to police.

She says everything is fine. Everyone seems calm and no-one has been hit.

10.59pm

The radio crackles back to life. There's been another call from the house we just left.

The man's mother has called back, her son's partner is in a rage and they are worried about her and the baby.

She wants police to return. All's quiet as we arrive, the young woman is upset, very drunk and will not leave the house.

It appears the anger centres on a relative having an affair with someone else at a recent tangi.

Police encourage her to stay at another family member's house for the night and let the man's mother, who is sober and calm, look after her newborn. She won't leave. "My baby, my baby, I'm not leaving without her."

The negotiation takes 30 minutes of our time. "Can't you understand that it is not good for your baby to leave in the middle of the night and go with you across town when you're drunk and out of control," Ms Weastell asks.

Eventually the woman falls into bed and leaves the baby with the older woman. Mr Hargis tells her if he has to come back again she'll be taking a trip to the cells.

"I almost arrested her for breaching the peace, but when I warned her she seemed to calm down."

11.40pm: Booze and spews

We're patrolling the nightclub district in downtown Manukau. There is a stretch of poorly lit car parks behind the bars, a favourite for thieves and troublemakers. So far it's pretty quiet, except for the sound of two men vomiting beside a car.

12.10am: Traffic stop

As we approach a roundabout, a Mitsubishi sedan with no lights on cruises past.

We pull the car over and Ms Weastell radios comms to check the licence plate.

Mr Hargis approaches the heavily laden car with a torch to check out the driver.

Within minutes people from nearby homes have wandered out to see the action.

Bad news for the driver: he's disqualified and has a warrant out for his arrest for breaching community service. "I don't even care," he says.

"Whatever, eh, I'm not saying nothing to you pigs." Everyone else in the car is too drunk to drive. A

blood test later at the station confirms that the driver has been drinking.

12.25am

A woman rushes out. It's a relative of someone in the car.

The driver had been only 20 metres from home when the cops caught up to him. "You can't leave the car on the side of the road," she yells.

"It won't be there in the morning, it'll be long gone."

It's true: in this part of town there are no cars parked at the kerb.

Easy pickings for the local crims. Ms Weastell moves the car into the woman's driveway for her.

12.40am: Prints and paperwork

The two constables head back to the station with the 18-year-old driver.

Sergeant Rupert Friend arrives to pick us up. We drop by Papakura police station to pick up some gear from a car crash earlier in the day, and on the way back to Manukau another call comes across the radio.

Noise control has asked for police help to confiscate a stereo. There's a group of 15 men out the front berating the noise control officer as she takes one of their many stereos.

"This house is always a problem. The elderly neighbours have had it up to their necks with all the party noise. I can take one stereo but I can guarantee there's another five inside."

1.39am: Bail check

Back with constables Weastell and Hargis. There are three prolific burglars all bailed to a single house at our first stop. They are subject to a 24-hour curfew.

They are sleeping in the lounge when Mr Hargis arrives.

They are used to the frequent late-night police checks and it means they don't have to walk far to answer the door.

1.50am: Dangerous driving

Report of a silver Subaru driving dangerously around Mangere. We are looking for the rogue car when one pulls into the lane in front of us.

1.55am: Vehicle stop

We pull over a Subaru Forester. It's not the car we're looking for, but it is a learner driver at the wrong place at the wrong time, flouting licence conditions.

2.10am: Party time

There's been a report of 50 people out of control at a house party. When we arrive there are already three police cars at the scene. It seems under control, so we leave them to it.

3.50am: Bail check

After plenty more paperwork we're off to check on a burglar and a car thief who are bailed to a house in Clendon. Both are awake when Ms Weastell knocks on the door. "Don't worry, miss, we're here," they yell.

4am: Suspicious behaviour

There are reports of suspicious people heading down a driveway. A neighbour suspects a burglar. When we arrive it's discovered it's just a garage party down a long driveway.

4.20am: Routine checks

Powerful search lights beam out of the side of the patrol car as we cruise around known trouble spots in the area.

4.31am: Ladies of the night

Next stop is a vast car park behind the Manurewa shopping mall where prostitutes and their pimps gather.

The patrol car stops by a group of girls to see how their night's been. Not good. There's a problem with a small local gang. "It's the Tongan Mafia," one woman says.

"They've been stealing money from our girls. They've got a flash-as car; it's orange and low-riding. They've been coming for the last few weeks trying to get our coin."

4.52am: Vehicle stop

Two cars are travelling close together in a quiet street, moving fast and looking suspicious. Mr Hargis pulls them over.

The young female driver has 110 demerit points and shouldn't be behind the wheel. She once applied to join the police. It obviously didn't work out.

4.55am: Prowler alert

There have been reports of a man looking through a teenager's bedroom in Clendon.

He has fled, so we race around nearby streets searching.

After five minutes we visit the house where a grandmother is sitting at the kitchen table with her two teenage grandchildren.

5.10am

One of the teenagers tells Mr Hargis she was woken by a rustle in her bedroom.

She went to look out of her bedroom window and a man with short hair was staring back in at her.

After watching her for about 30 seconds, he fled into the garage.

The 17-year-old girl is crying as she recalls the incident.

The grandmother is furious. "I'm not joking; if I see him I'll whack him with my axe handle. I'm not scared, I know I should be, but I'm not." Her house has been burgled seven times in as many years and she is sick of this neighbourhood. "We used to let our kids play at night around here. No way now. No way."

5.41am: 111 hangup

There was a 111 hangup call made from a cellphone two hours ago. Comms has now traced the call to a flat in central Manurewa. Mr Hargis realises he attended a domestic callout here the night before. We knock and shine the torch in the windows but no-one's home.

6am

The sun is coming up. The night is over. Back to Manurewa station for yet more paperwork.

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