A group of youths have all been “brought down safely” after they climbed onto the roof of an Auckland youth justice residence last night.
Oranga Tamariki alerted police to the incident in Wiri at about 6.40pm with 13 young people involved.
Minister for Children Karen Chhour and Oranga Tamariki’s Iain Chapman speak after 13 young people got on the roof at Korowai Manaaki, Auckland. (Source: 1News)
By about 9.40am this morning, just four youths remained on the roof at Korowai Manaaki– and at about 10.50am, the last of them came down.
“Whilst it is disappointing that this occurred, we can confirm at no point was there any concern for public safety as the standard operating procedures we have in place for such incidents were initiated immediately, to ensure the young people were not able to get any further than the roof within the confines of the facility,” the agency’s acting deputy chief executive of youth justice services and residential care, Iain Chapman, said.
“This was a dynamic and challenging situation,” he added. “The 13 young people have been either taken into secure care or taken off-site by police.”
A 1News camera operator at the scene overnight said the group were making KFC jokes, swearing and being disrespectful, adding they were damaging parts of the roof.
Chapman said: “These young people are here at Korowai Manaaki because they have committed serious crimes.
“They have caused damage to parts of our facilities, and they will be held criminally accountable.
“We will be conducting a full incident debrief together with our partner agencies. This will include interviews with all site staff involved in the incident.”
Oranga Tamariki alerted police to the incident at about 6.40pm last night. (Source: 1News)
“Oranga Tamariki can confirm we are responding to an incident at Korowai Manaaki, one of our Auckland Youth Justice Facilities,” Chapman said earlier. “We notified police that 13 youths had gained access to a roof within the facility.”
Series of incidents
There was a similar incident at the same facility in July last year.
At a Christchurch facility in June last year, KFC was used as part of negotiations.
Oranga Tamariki operates five youth justice residences to “provide a safe, secure and supportive environment where rangatahi can get their lives back on track and improve their prospects for the future”. Korowai Manaaki is the biggest, with capacity for up to 46 youths.
A police spokesperson said earlier today: “You will need to confirm details with Oranga Tamariki, they are the lead agency on this matter.”
Minister reacts
Speaking to media at the facility, Minister for Children Karen Chhour called the incident “absolutely unacceptable”.
However, she said “we’ve come a long way”:
“The way the staff dealt with this incident, I’m really proud of.”
Chapman said one group made it up onto the roof first. That “incited” a second, smaller group from another unit to follow them, he said.
The group were aged between 15 and 18, Chapman added.
“These staff know these kids, they work with them every day, and it was through that that they were able to convince them to come down off the roof safely.
“No one was harmed, none of the staff was harmed, there was a minor injury of one of the young people when he got up on the roof,” he said.
“We obviously have got a lot of work to do, to go through and unpack exactly what went on here.”
