Christchurch police target noisy cars in crackdown on boy racer activity

Thursday, 26 April 2018

Dozens of cars have been ordered off the road for noisy exhausts during a police crackdown on boy racers in central Christchurch.

Police deployed additional resources within the four avenues from late March after reports of a rise in the anti-social behaviour.

Bealey Ave moteliers furious at regularly having to cope with the noise of revving engines and squealing tyres say they have noticed improvements since the operation began at Easter.

That weekend alone officers ordered 26 cars off the roads, mainly for noisy exhausts, leaving owners with bills of more than $400 to make them road-legal.

**READ MORE:

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Constable Kurt Davison, from the police's specialist anti-social road user team, said the operation aimed to change the mindset of the young people responsible.

'There's a bit of a culture that it's cool to have a noisy car and what we're trying to do is change that culture,' he said.

Davison said the six-strong team routinely impound half a dozen cars a weekend from boy racers caught speeding or spinning their wheels.

Police were unable to provide figures for the total number of vehicles taken off roads since Easter but in the last three years the specialist team has charged people 242 times with boy-racer offences, almost all of which would have resulted in cars being impounded.

Across the entire Canterbury police district the figure for the last three years was 509. 

Road policing manager senior sergeant Kelly Larsen said having specialist anti-social roading teams working with other officers would continue and more resources would be poured into tackling problematic boy racers.

'What's been shown is that it's manageable, sustainable and effective, so there's no reason why we can't just carry on with that as business as usual,' she said.

Police said they had received positive feedback from car enthusiasts who had fixed problems with their vehicles after being stopped during the operation.

Business owners, including the owner of a Mobil petrol station forced to bring in security guards, have welcomed the reduction in problems.

John Arbuckle said that before the crackdown boy racers regularly got together in large numbers on Friday and Saturday nights to drink, smoke and cause a disturbance on the forecourt of his garage.

But he said he had noticed a massive change since the start of April.

'It's nothing like the prior issues we were having,' he said. 'They're a lot more manageable, so we're pretty happy with where it's at at the moment.'

A Bealey Ave motelier who asked not to be named also said he thought the problems had improved.

But he questioned how long that would last if the police presence was reduced.