It seems the emergency services' patience with unruly behaviour in Dunedin's student quarter has finally boiled over.
Police have announced they are taking a hard line on those responsible for lighting couch fires and causing disorder during emergency services callouts, and will be pressing charges for such offences more often than in the past. People found lighting fires will no longer receive pre-charge warnings or diversion, they say, and anyone caught interfering with an emergency services vehicle will no longer receive a pre-charge warning, but be given diversion or charged.
The ''zero-tolerance'' decision was agreed mutually between the police, the Fire Service, the University of Otago and the Otago Regional Council at a meeting arranged by Fire Service East Otago area manager Laurence Voight. The meeting was prompted by an incident in the student quarter last week in which a large group of revellers surrounded a fire engine called to extinguish a couch fire.
Bottles were thrown, and two students climbed on to the vehicle and jumped on it, before leaping off. (The two young men received a pre-charge warning and have been referred to the university proctor.) At the beginning of the month, East Otago fire district Fire Risk Management Officer Barry Gibson said 31 couch or furniture fires were reported in the city's centre and north area between February 1 and 25 - a greater number than usual for the month.
The increased disorder has clearly been the final straw for emergency services who deal annually with similar incidents, predominantly at the beginning of each tertiary year, though not always or exclusively involving students. They have voiced endless frustration at the mindless alcohol-fuelled actions of a few and the ever-present potential for serious harm either at those incidents or elsewhere if firefighters and appliances are tied up with a couch fire and unable to attend another emergency.
Emergency services personnel are simply trying to do their jobs - protecting property, preventing injury and saving lives - but are increasingly feeling the heat and are concerned for their own safety in such incidents. Fire Service East Otago Assistant Area Commander Craig Geddes described the scene of last week's callout as a ''pack mentality'' with ''out-of-control larrikins'' and said firefighters were left ''rattled''.
''They are genuinely compassionate people who do a hell of a good job. This is not what they signed up for. Fire, police and ambulance are there to help the community. We are not there as a target for hoodlums.''
Law-abiding citizens agree- and probably suspect emergency services have been more than lenient with youngsters, who, it is acknowledged, make mistakes and bad decisions often under the influence of alcohol and who, in the sober light of day, reflect on their actions and are remorseful and grateful for a second chance without a police conviction blighting their future.
But Dunedin residents also need to know antisocial and illegal behaviour is being addressed in their community - after all, their property, safety and city's reputation is affected and, as ratepayers, they are also left footing the bill for cleaning up North End streets and repairing damage to infrastructure such as roads or signs.
The university has backed the tougher stance, and maintains its own disciplinary processes deal appropriately with students involved in such disorder. Its reports show seven students were punished by university vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne last year for their part in fires in the student area. Penalties included being stood down for a semester and 50 hours' community service.
But, despite the threat of police charges, it seems the message is still not getting through to some people. The Fire Service attended five callouts to fires in the student area in the early hours of Sunday, and three non-students were arrested, charged and face court appearances this week; one allegedly chased an ambulance and, according to police, ''tried to rip open its back doors'' as it was being driven.
If the only way to get the safety message across is through the courts, then the hardline tactics are welcome. No-one can argue young offenders have not been given more than a fair hearing through the years.
