Papanui Library turns off 'mosquito device' used to deter youth

Friday, 9 September 2016

A Christchurch library has taken a novel approach to fighting crime - it's using a device designed to emit an annoying sound that can only be heard by young people, generally anyone under 25.

The Christchurch library blasting youth with a high-pitched sound has backed down after being accused of using a 'low level torture device'.

Christchurch City Council says the buzzing sound will stop for now.

Papanui Library had been using an irritating high-pitched sound, audible only to children and teenagers, to deter loitering near the front door, a spokeswoman said.

Council last week confirmed it had been using a 'mosquito device' to repel fighting youths who were intimidating library staff and visitors. The makers of the device said it was audible to anyone under 25 years old or with good hearing.

New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties' lobbyist Thomas Beagle said the library was deliberately hurting people, 'in order to keep them out of a public place'.

The noise from a device used to deter mosquitoes from Christchurch's Papanui Library is having an effect on teens.

Other complainants referred to a Council of Europe decision that called for the device to be banned, after they found it to be 'a low level torture device', the complaint said.

The device had been in place since 2014, libraries manager Carolyn Robertson said. She said the council had received positive feedback about the unorthodox method.

*Warning: If you're over 25, you shouldn't be able to hear anything. Adjusting the volume may damage your speakers.

Police were the ones to suggest the council tried out the mosquito device, she said.

It had been a 'a very effective deterrent' she said, so the library purchased their own for $1350.

Robertson said it tended to be used only at night but was turned on all day following trouble at the library, most recently because a security guard was assaulted.

Shirley-Papanui councillor Ali Jones said she understood why staff felt the need to install the device.

However, it should have been a short-term solution, she said.

'Now that it's been removed, we must find a solution,' Jones said. She was open to looking at creating more activities for young people.

But she did wonder why such a measure 'which caused a certain amount of discomfort' was taken.

'It's kind of ironic with the police station only metres away.'

The police declined to comment.

The council had apparently not received any complaints about the device until concerned youth workers spoke to Stuff.

Shirley-Papanui councillor Pauline Cotter said the issue would be discussed at a local meeting next week.

Cotter said she 'definitely didn't agree' with the device being used.

'I'd rather be more positive in the way we deal with these situations,' she said.

She suggested hiring a youth worker, as had been done at the New Brighton library, rather than using the sound repellent.

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