The guardians are usually on patrol at night, but during the school holidays they will patrol during the day from Wednesday to Friday to raise their profile, Waitaki community safety coordinator Alison Banks said.
There had also been a few issues with vandalism, particularly in the Oamaru Public Gardens, and the guardians were focusing mainly on the gardens and skate-park area and Itchen St, through to the waterfront.
There had also been incidents of tagging in those areas and, during the school holidays, that type of behaviour increased, Mrs Banks said.
The guardians had been visiting shops that sold spray paint and asking that staff keep an eye on purchasing cans, particularly in the most popular tagging colours of black, white and orange.
The guardians had also been chatting with young people, Mrs Banks said.
The community patrol was set up last year to counter increasing crime and bad behaviour in central Oamaru.
Mrs Banks said the community has responded well to having the guardians patrol during the day.
She was keen to have them on the streets during every school holiday.
Since the inception of the community patrols, feedback from the community had always been positive, she said.
The guardians had been involved in stopping incidents which could have become a lot more serious, and their presence had been enough to make people think twice. Their relationship with police was also good, she said.
