Local police initiative concludes with exceptional results

The road policing initiative operating within the Mitchell Police Service Area is coming into its final days of action, set to cease on Saturday, March 1.

The initiative was set in place with a particular focus on media and community involvement, which Insp Parkinson said aided in spreading awareness of inappropriate driving practices that would not be overlooked by police.

“This operation came about after some community concerns, which police had also noticed, in relation to the driving activities of members of the community,” Insp Parkinson said.

“We want to let members of the community know that this behaviour will not be tolerated, and we also want to let our community know that we are taking action.

“This is an issue across Victoria.

“Our police service area and the greater eastern region has seen the significant increase in the amount of fatalities and serious collisions on our roads, and we’ve taken this real, decisive action to try and reduce this.”

Insp Parkinson said the particular behaviour police had been targeting included inappropriate driving, ‘hooning’ and the blatant disobeying of road rules set in place to keep the community safe.

Operation Target was also designed to concentrate on specific persons of interest in the region.

“We’ve taken an approach with this operation to be quite specific in the people we’re targeting, as they have come to the attention of not only police, but the community,” Insp Parkinson said.

“The greater community are not happy with seeing their roads ripped up, and the tires all over the sides of the road, and the skid marks all over the centre of the town.

“There’s definitely repeat offenders, and that’s what we’re trying to achieve here, to change that.”

For each vehicle impounded during the operation in areas such as Wallan, Kilmore, Beveridge and Seymour, police shared a post to the Mitchell Police Service Area Facebook page in an effort to keep the community informed on the targeting of these road offences.

Insp Parkinson said these posts had been well-received by the community.

“The response from the community has been outstanding, really positive, which is really great for my members knowing that the work that they’re doing day-in and day-out is valued by the community,” Insp Parkinson said.

“The community engagement, in relation to the media of this operation, has been phenomenal, which is really encouraging.

“They (the community) may have been feeling not quite safe on the roads themselves, they may have felt like we were not taking any action, so that’s why this operation came about; to show the community that we have noticed, and we are taking action.”

The positive reaction of the community has not been the only success to emerge from Operation Target.

Since February 1, when the operation commenced, police in the Mitchell Service Area have intercepted 768 vehicles, conducted 2105 preliminary breath tests, impounded 21 vehicles, processed 118 offenders, issued 150 infringement notices, remanded two offenders, and conducted 91 preliminary oral fluid tests.

While these results are significant, Insp Parkinson said this was not the end of specific, targeted initiatives in the region.

“We’re always focusing on road policing,” Insp Parkinson said.

“We will definitely look at using this operation again down the track.

“I think the concentrated effort to identify our local persons of interest has really helped the success of this operation, so I think it definitely can be used in other police service areas.”

If you have witnessed any behaviour on our roads that you consider to be reckless or inappropriate, phone Seymour Police Station on 5735 0200 or Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.