This time it’s the Wellington, New Zealand, P.D. calling on the man who wrote the songs in hopes of dispersing groups of unruly teens from an outdoor mall. According to police, the teens regularly use the location for drinking, drugging, tagging, swearing and spreading garbage.

The solution? Crank up the Manilow.

“The intention is to change the environment in a positive way … so nobody feels threatened or intimidated,” said Central City Business Association Manager Paul Lonsdale. “I did not say Barry Manilow is a weapon of mass destruction.”

WMD or not, police hope blasting Manilow’s hits like “Mandy,” “Daybreak’ and “Could It Be Magic” will persuade the teens to either change their behavior or find another place to hang out.

This isn’t the first time a police department has called on Manilow’s sonic charms.

In November a Colorado judge ordered teens charged with playing loud music to spend an hour listening to Manilow as well as other “easy listening” artists, according to USA Today.

“When you have a person playing rap at extreme volumes all over the city, and they have to sit down and listen for an hour to Barry Manilow, it’s horrible punishment,” said Fort Lupton Municipal Judge Paul Sacco.

But that was Colorado. New Zealand kids beg to differ.

“We would just bring a stereo and play it louder,” said NZ teen Emma Belcher.

But Belcher may be optimistic. It’s a well-known unproven fact that once someone listens to repeated spins of “Copacabana” – the epic, almost Shakespearean musical tale of the ill-fated romance between showgirl Lola and bartender Tony at the “hottest spot north of Havana” – the person will hear the song echo through his or her brain … forever!

Read the Associated Press account here.

Read USA Today’s account here.