RACER FEAR: Wellington patrol members are nervous of boy racer retribution.

The Eastern Rocks Community Patrol has asked the Wellington City Council to support them with the loan of a car.

It is very intimidating for patrollers using their own cars, as they can be recognised by people, says chairperson Kelly Hoar-Guthrie.

“We’ve had boy racers chase a patrol car and boy racers block a car in,” she says.

“One of the patrollers has a car like me and he thinks they target him thinking it’s me, because I reported them one night.

“They do burnouts in front of his house.”

The patrollers try to prevent crime in the eastern suburbs, and work closely with the police.

They look out for trouble such as reckless driving, drinking, fights or parties, and alert the police if necessary.

For reckless drivers, for example, they take down number plates, follow the cars at a safe distance and sometimes call the police.

The patrollers are all volunteers, police vetted and trained, as well as first aid-trained.

“There’s nothing we can’t do,” Kelly says.  The group helps out in other ways, such as searching for missing people or keeping a watchful eye on large parties.

The group is asking the council to lend them a car with cameras inside, to help with printing costs and to put CCTV cameras into the airport underpass.

The underpass is host to a lot of trouble, she says.

Councillor Simon Marsh says the loan of a council car is an option, but the council has yet to discuss the possibility.

“It doesn’t just come down to money,” he says. “We can provide them with publicity, like if they’re looking to recruit more people.”

The council provided funding to the group in the last grants round and has provided parking permits so they can park their cars at the police station.

The patrollers want support like that given to the Hutt Safe City Group by Hutt City Council.

The Eastern Rocks group was established early last year and has 29 patrollers, the youngest of whom is 18.

It sends out a car on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights until early morning, and sometimes on Saturdays they have two cars out.

They patrol the eastern suburbs beyond the Mt Victoria tunnel, the Miramar peninsula and up to the zoo and Newtown.

Wellington Free Ambulance has trained some patrollers to use defibrillators and has placed emergency defibrillators around suburbs.

The group is one of 122 that belong to Community Patrols of New Zealand. Anybody can volunteer and the group is encouraging retired people to join as they would like to set up day time patrols, as well.

To volunteer, email kelly.hoarguthrie@gmail.com or call 021 077 0754

SOME SUPPORT: Patrollers Kelly Hoar-Guthrie and Diana Ward-Pickering with helpful supporter Annette King.

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