In this installment of The Valley Profile’s investigation into high methamphetamine consumption in Thames, ALICE PARMINTER speaks to businesses, who say antisocial and violent behaviour is becoming more visible in the public eye.
Leanne Grinder of Walter and Co has security cameras at the back of her Pollen St shop.
She regularly captures night-time footage of people rummaging through her rubbish and causing damage, she said.
A few months back, the trouble-makers did more than just rummage.
“Three women came along… while one was going through the bins, the other two I could see right in the corner where my back door was, and they were doing some weird movement,” Leanne said.
“On my next video clip we could see what they had done, and they had broken my water pipe off the wall on purpose. It flooded all the way into my business, right into the main salon part.”
Walter and Co was closed for the morning, turning away clients until a plumber was able to repair the damage. The shop also had to be cleaned out.
Leanne said the disruption and cost to her business was significant. She put the footage on social media and got the names of the women, taking the information to the police. That afternoon two of the women came into the shop to apologise.
“I just said to her, ‘can you just explain to me why you broke the water pipe in the first place?’ She turned around and said to me, ‘oh, well, my friend just wanted a bit of pipe for her bowl,’ and I’m shaking my head like, are you serious? You did all that damage just for a bit of pipe that you could have got from anywhere.”
Leanne is one of many shopkeepers who say drug users are getting bolder.
“The businesses we talk to are very concerned, and they’re angry, and they don’t understand why we as a community aren’t up in arms about this,” Sue Lewis-O’Halloran from the Thames Business Association said.
“We only have anecdotal stats because we don’t have the resources to collect stats, but they’re demoralised.”
Just down the road, another Pollen St worker, who wished to remain anonymous, said she has also had several incidents in her shop.
“Just recently, this couple [in] about their 20s ran in the shop huffing and puffing and hid behind the racks out there… They kept looking across the road,” the worker said.
The couple told her they were hiding from a gang member across the street.
“These big guys [were] walking up and down the street looking for them… I’m thinking, shit, he must know they’re in here,” she said.
“I talked to her and I talked to him, he was all over the place. So I said, we’ve got a back door. I’ll let you out. I don’t care if I’m letting you run away or whatever, I just want you out of the shop.”
Another time, a woman came in to try on some clothes, before suddenly stopping and accusing the worker of having her grandchildren held in the back room.
“I know she’s on meth because she’s well-known in Thames… and she’s off her face.
“This is nine o’clock in the morning,” the worker said.
“I don’t feel comfortable [here], I keep thinking something horrible’s going to happen – customers are saying they’re scared to be here.”
“We still see a high level of crime driven by factors associated with methamphetamine,” Thames Community Officer acting Sergeant Gareth Carter said.
“A lot of stolen property is stolen and onsold to fund drug habits… And as with all small rural towns, it is probably a growing issue.”
Gareth said methamphetamine was a difficult drug to police, as it is easy to hide and doesn’t have telltale signs, such as the distinct smell of cannabis.
Waikato East Area Commander Mike Henwood said Police needed accurate information to act on methamphetamine use.
“Operationally, Police rely on information from the public in relation to suspicious activity and this ultimately provides the information Police piece together [that] can result in search warrants being issued and executed at locations where drugs may be supplied from,” he said.
“The recent gang legislation has increased the tools Police have to put significant pressure on gangs who we all know frequently are involved in drug supply.”
Enforcement efforts have increased in the latter half of this year, as the government cracks down on methamphetamine use and distribution.
In Thames, Police said they now walk the streets more regularly as part of new positions targeting retail crime.
“You should hopefully see a lot more police uniforms walking the street, having the time to talk to the public and the shopkeepers to gain intel and to find out where the problems are and react accordingly,” Gareth said.
“The Thames Police station is always manned Monday to Friday during the day. [And] there’s other staff that aren’t included in that roster that will be working days, nights, swing shifts to boost those frontline numbers at any one time as well.
“There’s always people around.”
