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. 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, this job of being a politician, of being a
leader is always harder than you expect. We learn today
that Mark Mitchell will not be introducing legislation against boy
races this year, even though all year he said he would.
In June, when it was all going off in Levin,
he was promising laws to enable the cops to seize
the vehicles and to keep them and a return to
the good old days of crush of Collins. Let's crush

(00:21):
those cars. But it's never happened because it is and
I quote Mark Complex, no kidding, but look, if he's
got some time on his hands to come up with
some rules and laws about this sort of thing, can
I suggest he look at hitting the problem of South
Orcland's dirt bike hooligans, who made some headlines over the weekend.

(00:41):
South Orcan's dirt bike rabble is a classic gang technique
and it needs to be stopped. What happens is the
gangs give out dirt bikes to the kids and they've
been doing this for ages. And these dirt bikes are
cheap and their mobile and their nippy, and by the way,
they're very handy for hit and run crime. They get
young spects into the bike culture that then carries on

(01:02):
into the adult gangs and they put the kids on
Harley's and Indians, but the dirt bikes is where they start.
And the dirt bikes are swarming and they distract the
police while the more hardened gang crims carry on with
their business not wearing the patches because they're not stupid.
These kid gangs in a way are even more intimidatory
and dangerous than the gangs proper. If you've ever seen

(01:25):
a swarm of dirt bikes in South Auckland, it's absolutely
freakiously scary and horrific. And their kids and they're all
over the place, and they're driving the wrong way up
the motorway, and they swarm on the on the streets
on mass and they indulge in street crime rather than
drugs or the fighting and scrapping, rather than just passing
away some envelopes full of myth. They are far more

(01:47):
visible to people on the street. You are someone in
South Auckland, and yet do you hear anything about the
South Auckland dirt bikes other than every now and then
when they burst into the into the headline. So Mark,
since you haven't got the boys racist stuff done yet?
How about the dirt bike stuff. 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

(02:09):
the growing threat. It's time for a politician to start
doing something about it. For more from Early Edition with
Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talks it Be from
five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.