Police say a resurgence of boy racing activity in Christchurch is dangerous, anti-social and a waste of their time and resources.
Police say boy racers are wasting their time. Photo: 123rf.com
Police said 177 infringement traffic notices were issued to drivers in the city on Friday night and last night, as hundreds gathered for an event, called the Aves Invasion, involving skids and street racing.
On Friday night bottles were thrown at police officers and last night false calls were made to emergency services to divert their attention from the boy racer activities.
One resident in Kaiapoi called Fire and Emergency and reported a fire.
Other residents took to social media to describe frustration at the noise of the cars.
Canterbury Metro Commander Superintendent Lane Todd said boy racer activities have flared up and previously good relationships between the drivers and the police have deteriorated.
"Police are very disappointed with their actions and the fact that they are showing total disregard to the safety and peace of our communities."
Mr Todd said it is causing the deterioration of the good relationships built between the drivers and authorities in recent months.
Superintendent Lane Todd said the anti-social behaviour is wasting police hours. Photo: RNZ / Katie Todd
A specialist squad has been working to crack down on boy racer activity while Christchurch City Council had rolled out a special light-phasing initiative on Bealey Ave last month, to give traffic a clear run down the street and reduce boy racer disruption.
But Mr Todd said the behaviour of the past two nights is anti-social, dangerous and shows an intentional decision to flaunt the law.
"Our community, particularly the residents, have had enough," he said.
He said last night's events had also wasted valuable time and police resources.
"Genuine calls for service get less attention and can be potentially missed if police are tied up with unnecessary and thoughtless boy-racer behaviour."
Organisers of Aves Invasion are describing Saturday night as "off the hook" and planning more gatherings in the future.
But Mr Todd said enforcement action will be strongly adhered to for the future.
"We certainly don't want to see this pattern of behaviour - that we saw over the weekend - to continue, so we will be doing everything we can to pearl that back," he said.
He said the anti-social behaviour of boy racers is wasting police hours.
"Police are very disappointed with their actions and the fact that they are showing total disregard to the safety and peace of our communities."
Superintendent Todd said last night some calls for service turned out to be hoax.
He warned anyone who makes a false complaint to police could be prosecuted.