Abuse will not be tolerated, says CE

Published on 05 May 2022

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Waitaki District Council staff faced a tirade of verbal abuse and had objects thrown at them during a worrying incident at the Waitaki Aquatic Centre yesterday that ended with two boys, aged 10 and 11 being banned from the facility.  Police were called to the Oamaru pool after the two boys made a threat towards another youth, and one of the two offending youths allegedly pulled out a toy pistol. When the manager and staff asked the boys to leave, they became abusive and threw objects at staff.

Waitaki CE Alex Parmley said, “In providing services to our communities, all our staff should expect to be able to do this free from abuse, intimidation, and violence. The Council and I take incidents like this very seriously and we will not tolerate this behaviour towards our staff. We will take all necessary steps to deal with individuals who threaten our staff so that they can continue to deliver services for our communities safe from harm.”

The boys would be issued with trespass notices and referred to Youth Aid.

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