Hello all from us at the station. We are most of the way through winter now so those who are struggling with the cold (even though it has been a mild winter) can look forward to the warmer months not too far away.

However, we have had issues on the roads that are weather related, so we are not out of the woods yet. I attended a call of a hay bail on the road in the southbound lane of the Crown Range 1km from the summit. When I got there, I found a rock the size of a desk that had come off the hill in the rain and into the middle of the southbound lane. Well

done to the contractors who moved this and the four other large rocks that had come off the hillside on the Wanaka and Queenstown sides of the summit. The consequences of hitting one of those would surely be catastrophic.

Those who are visiting loved ones or friends over the hill or coming over to visit please be mindful of the time of day you are heading over the hill as the road condition may be treacherous compared to when you went over. Plan for delays and you won’t be disappointed. Remember we are still having frosty windscreens so take your time and save yourself a $150 ticket. It amazes me how many people blame me for spoiling their day when they get a ticket and don’t take responsibility for their own actions that caused them to get the ticket. I was always taught by my parents to take responsibility for what I have done not blame someone else.

Find the latest on Roads in your Wanaka App

We attended another nasty crash on the Cardrona Valley Road this week.

We had a busy weekend of alcohol related matters in town and at private addresses. Yes, I sound like a broken record because it is such a common theme for us. We did quite a bit of early alcohol prevention work but can’t prevent them all. You have no idea how many people are wandering home in the middle of the road drunk in the night. It is only

luck that more people don’t get hurt.

I attended a number of assault complaints, and each had alcohol involved… again… I would be confident in saying that none of those incidents would have happened if parties were not drinking.

We did a lot of work this week detecting speed, not wearing seatbelts, and using a cell phone while driving. You may have seen us outside the police station as it continues to surprise us how many people drive past doing some, or all, of the above. These are the basic rules of driving and can result in vehicle crashes and serious injury, you should not be surprised if you get a ticket.

One checkpoint on Friday night we used 25 breath screening tubes. That is 25 people who registered enough alcohol to be close to the limit. If you drink and drive you are…. well I am sure you have all heard what our opinion is of that.

So a few weeks ago I asked for stories of snowmen and fluffy bunnies and still nothing… Where’s the love team? I heard there was a question about who wrote the Crimeline in last weeks pub quiz. Well done to those who got it right, it shows you read this.

How about we get some good stories of how members of the public have prevented someone from doing something wrong or done something nice for another person with no gain for themselves. You can email these stories to Sergeant Kerin at [email protected].

Please make them genuine and if you have done some behaviours like this or had someone do something kind for you that’s awesome. That’s community.