Hoon powers set for region

Alex de Vos
Geelong Police will have the power to confiscate hoons’ cars next month.
Chief Inspector Wayne Carson said local police would undergo training to use the new anti-hoon laws after officers in other regions had impounded more than 100 cars since the start of last month.
Chief Insp Carson said Geelong police would have the power to impound, immobilise or confiscate cars if they caught drivers drag-racing, performing burnouts or engaging in other dangerous driving.
He was confident the new powers would stop “some hoonish behaviour” in the region. Chief Insp Carson and hoped Geelong police were fully trained before summer.
“We hope we get to confiscate cars before summer because we anticipate a lot more hoons during the warm weather, for example, driving around the coast,” he said.
Technical definitions of breaking the new laws included intentionally causing one or more tyres to lose traction, exceeding the speed limit by 45 kilometres an hour, engaging in a race, driving dangerously or carelessly or causing a vehicle to emit excessive noise or smoke.
A Victorian Police spokesperson would not reveal where officers were under training to use the anti-hoon laws or where they had resources to impound and confiscate cars.
“A lot of hoon behaviour is organised, so as soon as we announce we’re targeting one particular problem area the hoons will move somewhere else,” the spokesperson said.
Victoria Police had confiscated 130 cars since the laws came into effect on July 1.
“We’ve had great success and the new laws are going quiet well,” the spokesperson said.
“There are 11,000 traffic police in Victoria who have to be trained and we hope to have them all trained by the end of the year.”