Andrew Dickens: It's time to do something about South Auckland's dirt bikes

The job of being a politician is always harder than you expect. We learned today that Mark Mitchell will not be introducing legislation against boy racers this year even though he has said he would. In June when it as all going off in Levin he was promising laws to enable the cops to seize vehicles and keep them. A return to the good old days of Crusher Collins But it's never happened because it is quote "complex". If he's got some time on his hand could I suggest he look at hitting the problem of South Auckland's dirt bike hooligans. South Auckland’s dirt bike rabble is classic gang technique and needs to be stopped. The gangs have been giving out dirt bikes to the kids for quite some time now. Cheap, mobile and nippy they’re very handy for hit and run crime. They get young prospects into the bike culture which then carries on into the the adult gangs with their Harleys and Indians.  They distract the police while the more hardened gang criminals carry on with their business.  But these kid gangs are in a way even more intimidatory and dangerous than the gang proper.    As they swarm around South Auckland streets en masse. As they ride en masse up the motorway the wrong way and as they indulge in street crime rather then drugs they are more visible to the people on the street.  It’s time for a good crackdown and a good dose of crushing of these bikes and it’s time for a politician to start talking about the growing threat and doing something about it.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.