‘Shared’ patrols on surf coast nab late-night drink drivers

Andrew Mathieson
SURF Coast police are sharing late-night weekend patrols in a new initiative netting drink drivers, according to officers.
As part of Operation Review, police from Lorne, Anglesea and Torquay stations share patrols of the coast between 2am and 5am Fridays and Saturdays.
Lorne Sergeant David Cooper said the initiative meant police were patrolling late every weekend rather than covering each town “periodically”.
Sgt Cooper said police wanted to maintain a “visible police presence” on the coast after 2am.
“We usually have a call-out procedure in place but with the new strategy we’ve had a number of drink drivers apprehended and persons checked across these hours,” he said.
“It’s been good to collate information through different field contact reports.”
Torquay Sergeant Jason van Doren said the strategy would make motorists “think twice” before getting behind the wheel after drinking.
“We’ve noticed a few drink drivers caught after hours, which indicates people are driving intoxicated thinking no police are around, which is disappointing,” he said.
“Now people won’t know whether police from Torquay, Lorne or Anglesea are on patrol. We hope this gets people to take that second to think about catching a cab instead.”
Sgt Cooper said police initially aimed the strategy at street offences such as criminal damage and graffiti during winter.
“We wanted to see if there’s a link between street offences and property damage and help increase the community’s sense of safety.”
The trial began on June 18 as part of a review of Victoria Police’s night shift strategy for the Surf Coast.