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Ross Giblin / Stuff
Police arrest a man in Wilton after months of numerous alleged street drug and gang offenses.
Paul * raised his children in the safety of this quiet North Wellington cul-de-sac. Wednesday’s police raid was the latest incident which means that it now feels unsafe to return home after dark.
Things changed for him and his neighbors, including a 95-year-old WWII veteran, about five months ago when new residents with ties to nomadic gangs moved into one of Kāinga Ora’s homes at the end of their road in Wilton. . Things agreed not to use the residents’ real names for fear of repercussions.
He said his private road had been the scene of about 10 police visits in recent months, including a drug bust, four arrests, vandalism and tagging.
They came to a head when police raided Kāinga Ora’s home on Wednesday morning and took one person away. Another incident followed at 4 a.m. Sunday morning when what he believed to be a nomadic gang member attached to Kāinga Ora’s home hit the streets and allegedly began wrecking cars.
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But Paul’s main complaint is with the state housing agency Kāinga Ora, which says it has ignored requests for help. Five residents of the street, including him, are retired.
Ross Giblin / Stuff
Cars near Wilton’s home were damaged early Sunday morning.
“It’s like moving gang members into the middle of a retirement village,” he said. Now she is afraid to walk down the street after dark, the street her children once played on.
Other neighbors confirmed that the police had become habitual in the street and that gang members had been seen patched up. Noisy cars often stopped briefly at night.
“People say, don’t come down the street until someone comes out to find you,” said one.
Another said that the street, until recently, lived in harmony with a mix of refugees and veterans in social housing.
Ross Giblin / Stuff
Police in the Wilton raid Wednesday morning.
Paul wrote to Ōhāriu MP Greg O’Connor asking him to advocate for the removal of the tenant and associates who live there.
O’Connor, a former president of the police union, said Ōhāriu had been lucky not to have an actual gang presence and would speak to residents about the issues.
There was a good chance it was not a gang platform, but it could be a case of gang members using the homes of others, such as relatives, he said.
“The essence of gangs is that it is very, very difficult for people in their sphere of influence to say no. If they are asked to store things or to carry them out, it will be difficult for them to say no. “
Ross Giblin / Stuff
Police in the Wilton raid Wednesday morning.
Kāinga Ora area manager Alice Daniel-Kirk was unable to comment on details without a privacy waiver, but sympathized with those affected by the behavior of others.
Many of the issues raised were in the domain of the police and judicial system, he said.
“There are also laws that say that people cannot be discriminated against. That includes being in a gang. There are also statutes, managed by city councils, that relate to noise, graffiti and other illegal acts ”.
Kāinga Ora generally had tenants sign agreements agreeing to be good neighbors. Tenants could be transferred if situations arise that “do not meet the thresholds of the court system and other local laws.”
Police area manager, Acting Inspector Warwick McKee, said police had been called to the street multiple times in the past five months.
Most were for misdemeanors, but a 26-year-old man arrested there in August was charged with possession of the drug ecstasy and a 19-year-old man arrested Wednesday was charged with robbery.
