Waikato Police preparing for a busy New Years Eve across the District's popular holiday spots are concerned a trend of young people making poor decisions identified last year may be repeating itself this summer.
District Operations Manager, Inspector John Kelly, said traffic flows on the Coromandel were light at present but expected to build as were crowd numbers with mostly family groups enjoying the holidays.
"Everyone's been in a pretty positive mood however the issue of young people not being supervised is of concern, particularly in regards to their ability to obtain alcohol.
"Of the 20 odd arrests made over night 13 of these were 17-years-old, the majority for breach of the liquor ban while one was arrested for possession of cannabis. We need to look at if we are doing the best for these young people by leaving them unsupervised and ask that parents reconsider the boundaries they have set."
Mr Kelly's concerns were echoed by colleagues in Hamilton investigating a violent burglary in the City on Monday night that has left an elderly man in hospital with serious head injuries and two teenagers and an adult male under arrest.
Police were called to the scene in north Hamilton after members of the public heard a disturbance and went to investigate.
"It appears a 75-year-old man has disturbed three people breaking into his garage and stealing tools and a barbeque," said Mr Kelly.
"The victim has attempted to stop them and in the process been struck to the head with what we believe was a large set of bolt cutters, he was taken to Waikato Hospital with serious head injuries where he remains at this time."
Mr Kelly said in addition to raising the alarm members of the public prevented one of the offenders leaving the scene and arriving Police staff tracked the other two to a nearby property with the aid of a Police dog.
"As a result a 22-year-old man, a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl were arrested and charged with burglary and aggravated wounding and all three are due to reappear in the Hamilton District Court on 30 December.
"There are two things that are apparent from this incident, one the importance of if you see or hear something suspicious to contact Police and the other is once again parents need to know where their children are because, as in this case, they could be involved in very serious matters."
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