13 August 2009

Police Wrap - 13 August

| johnboy
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1. Now it’s the youths hitting the houses:

    ACT Policing will summons a 17-year-old, south Canberra juvenile to the ACT Children’s Court for multiple driving and traffic offences. after an incident around 11.10pm yesterday.

    Police will allege they were conducting routine patrols of Gilmore in an unmarked police vehicle, when they observed a White Honda Civic exceeding the speed limit, travelling in the opposite direction.

    Police conducted a U-turn and followed the vehicle onto May Maxwell Crescent where they activated their lights and sirens to signal for the vehicle to pull over.

    No sooner had this occurred when the vehicle veered off the road into the front of a house on May Maxwell Crescent.

    Police immediately rendered assistance to the five occupants of the house who were uninjured.

    The driver who attempted to flee on foot was apprehended in the neighbouring property by police.

    The youth was subjected to a breath analysis, returning a positive result of 0.057. As the driver has never held a license he is required by law to have a blood alcohol limit of no more than 0.02.

    Police will also allege the vehicle was stolen and was bearing stolen number plates. A court date is yet to be set.

2. The police view on Mr 60:

    ACT Policing has arrested a 45-year-old Turner man after multiple calls to the triple zero service were received.

    Police will allege the man called New South Wales and Western Australian police reporting the assault of his former partner in Western Australia. Police had confirmed the welfare of the woman in question however the male continued to call over 60 times. The alleged offender was also informed by Western Australian Police that it was an offence to contact triple zero if it was not an emergency situation.

    ACT Policing located the male at his turner residence and will allege he was on the phone to NSW triple zero service at the time.

    He was arrested and will face the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday (August 10) charged with improper use of an emergency call service.

    This incident comes after police issued a warning earlier this week for only those in need of immediate assistance to call triple zero. Superintendent Chris Sheehan in charge of Police Operations said “I am disappointed that this person has ignored these warnings. Police take these matters very seriously and will continue to prosecute those who use the emergency number inappropriately. All non-urgent enquires for police can be directed to 131-444.”

3.P-Platers busted:

    Three provisional licence holders will have their licences suspended after they were identified by police driving well over the posted speed limit during separate traffic targeting activities yesterday.

    One driver, a 17-year-old man from Gilmore, was detected driving 45km/h over the 80km/h posted speed limit on Adelaide Avenue in Curtin about 10.30am. A total of 13 traffic infringement notices were issued by police at this location.

    Later that day, a further three p-plate drivers were detected travelling between 34-38km/h over the speed limit in a 60km/h zone on Southern Cross Drive in Latham. One of the drivers, a 17-year-old man from Higgins, was already a suspended driver, whilst the other two will have their licences suspended.

    Police also issued nine motorists with traffic infringement notices on Belconnen Way in Hawker between 1pm and 2pm, including a 35-year-old Phillip man who was travelling at 107km/h in a 60km/h zone and attempted to evade police by hiding in the driveway of a nearby residence. He will now pay a $1600 fine and lose six points from his licence.

    ACT Policing Superintendent in charge of Traffic Operations Mark Colbran says these sorts of speed detection duties are every-day policing for officers, and those that speed will eventually face the consequences, one way or another.

    “These results have not come from a specialised operation or identified initiative – they are the results of every-day policing, and drivers who flaunt the speed limits and put your families and love ones at risk need to lose this mentality that they won’t meet with any consequences,” Supt Colbran said.

    “It is particularly concerning that the majority of the motorists detected driving at excessive speeds yesterday were provisional drivers. We see it too often – mixing inexperienced driving with speed can have horrific consequences and it continues to frustrate me that our young drivers are flirting with tragedy without so much as a second thought,” he said.

    “Whilst it is our job as police to enforce traffic laws and try to educate the community, young drivers may not always have a realistic outlook on their own mortality. This is where family members and friends need to relay to their driving-aged loved ones that it is not just about them, and that any tragic consequences resulting from their stupidity will have a lasting effect on a range of people,” he said.

4. It’s a rare thing to be a pissed, disqualified, L-Plater behind the wheel, going the wrong way up a street at age 34:

    ACT Policing has arrested a 34-year-old disqualified L plate driver after a routine traffic stop in Downer around 1.30am today (August 8).

    Police will alleged they conducted the traffic stop on the Braddon man after observing his vehicle driving on the wrong side of Antill Street before turning north onto Northbourne Avenue.

    The driver was subjected to a breath analysis which returned a reading of 0.196 grams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, almost ten times the legal limit for a disqualified or L plate driver of 0.02.

    The alleged offender will face the ACT Magistrates Court today (August 8) charged with driving whilst disqualified, exceeding the prescribed concentration of alcohol in blood whilst driving and breach of bail.

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AG Canberra said :

“Routine patrols of Gilmore”….more like the one and only for the day and they got lucky. This bloke was obviously driving around in broad daylight, pi$$ed, in a stolen car, with stolen plates – and having no expectation of being caught. The bad guys will continue to do bad things if they have no expectation of getting caught….

Are you looking for a bite, or are you really that ignorant?

So, people who have never held a licence speed, crash into houses, & have stolen plates, can evade a harsher penalty by not drinking beforehand?

pptvb: I find it hard to express in words how silly that comment is. If you commit 10 separate offences, you get charged for 10 seperate offences. If you commit 11, you get charged with 11. Whether or not someone is driving a stolen car, you can’t charge them with driving drunk if they weren’t drunk. And if they were drunk then you absolutely should charge them with that on top of the other offence. Exactly what are you suggesting should be the practice?

AG Canberra said :

“Routine patrols of Gilmore”….more like the one and only for the day and they got lucky. This bloke was obviously driving around in broad daylight, pi$$ed, in a stolen car, with stolen plates – and having no expectation of being caught. The bad guys will continue to do bad things if they have no expectation of getting caught….

Are you looking for a bite, or are you really that ignorant?

So, people who have never held a licence speed, crash into houses, & have stolen plates, can evade a harsher penalty by not drinking beforehand?

pptvb: I find it hard to express in words how silly that comment is. If you commit 10 separate offences, you get charged for 10 seperate offences. If you commit 11, you get charged with 11. Whether or not someone is driving a stolen car, you can’t charge them with driving drunk if they weren’t drunk. And if they were drunk then you absolutely should charge them with that on top of the other offence. Exactly what are you suggesting should be the practice?

So, people who have never held a licence speed, crash into houses, & have stolen plates, can evade a harsher penalty by not drinking beforehand?

pptvb: I find it hard to express in words how silly that comment is. If you commit 10 separate offences, you get charged for 10 seperate offences. If you commit 11, you get charged with 11. Whether or not someone is driving a stolen car, you can’t charge them with driving drunk if they weren’t drunk. And if they were drunk then you absolutely should charge them with that on top of the other offence. Exactly what are you suggesting should be the practice?

Im thinking that maybe the reason so many more P platers got caught, is that in recent years the police havent been a visible presence on the road. I wouldnt be surprised if most P platers have never seen a police radar trap, though I suspect they may have seen RBTs I doubt its as many as in the old days. Theyd be more used to seeing a white van with a sign saying your speed has been checked, than seeing an actual police officer in a marked vehicle with a speedgun.

Its nice to see the police starting to have a more high visibility presence on the roads. I wonder if this will continue long term or simply be some 3-day operation and back to normal business for the weekend?

Again I ask…” what is it with the penalty system in ACT, and for that across Australia”. I refer bloggers back to a previous comment I made in regards to losing your licence in ACT if you do not pay the administration fee as well as the parking fine impossed for over staying parking welcome (those of you lucky enough to have a reminder notice handy, refer to it). Now I read on ABC news online that a well known Cricketer in Perth gets a $3500 slap on the wrist and suspended, yes, suspended licence, for ramming two vehicles, being over the RBT limit, assaulting a Police Officer, and evading arrest. And in ACT too, you can be doing 40+km/h over the speed limit and be a suspended licence holder, and get too keep your licence. Go figure !

“Routine patrols of Gilmore”….more like the one and only for the day and they got lucky. This bloke was obviously driving around in broad daylight, pi$$ed, in a stolen car, with stolen plates – and having no expectation of being caught. The bad guys will continue to do bad things if they have no expectation of getting caught….

ahappychappy12:34 pm 14 Aug 09

Agreed, there may have been more P-Platers given infringements, but there may not have been. I don’t understand why an assertion like that can be made without being shown to be true. I would put money that there wasn’t actually a majority, but the AFP Media Unit (or whoever has written Colbran’s media address) have thrown the one-liner in to appeal to the public and media.

If there actually HAD of been a majority in the statistics, they would’ve put in big bold letters “THIRTEEN OF TWENTY SIX DRIVERS NABBED THIS AFTERNOON WERE P-PLATERS” or something along those lines so the media can jump all over it.

ahappychappy said :

Sorry – This is where I get confused and the P-Plater stereotype…

They issued over 22 (I say over as they did not specify how many infringements were issued at one location) infringements, of which 4 were provisional drivers. How is that a majority?

There are four *examples* of P-platers given infringements, that doesn’t mean that these were the only P-platers that were caught.

Anna Key said :

I’m confused too. The 17 yo driver has never held a license therefore cannot exceed 0.02. Surely he shouldn’t actually be driving at all, regardless of his BA level?

+1
So, people who have never held a licence speed, crash into houses, & have stolen plates, can evade a harsher penalty by not drinking beforehand?

Anna Key said :

I’m confused too. The 17 yo driver has never held a license therefore cannot exceed 0.02. Surely he shouldn’t actually be driving at all, regardless of his BA level?

Yes that is correct, he shouldn’t be driving at all. But he still has a 0.02 BAC limit. Obviously they are not allowed to drive, but if they do choose to drive, they still have a BA limit. It’s just an additional offence to driving whilst un-licenced

I’m confused too. The 17 yo driver has never held a license therefore cannot exceed 0.02. Surely he shouldn’t actually be driving at all, regardless of his BA level?

One of the drivers, a 17-year-old man from Higgins, was already a suspended driver, whilst the other two will have their licences suspended.
Looks like there will be a couple more suspended drivers out on the road tomorrow – going by their mate.

I would like to know how people didn’t notice the Police Operation?

A white Commodore with a radar thing stinking out the side was just past the Carruthers Street entry onto Adelaide Avenue. The Police then had all their cars in the regular RBT location. Most people slowed down for it, but for some reason 22 people didn’t see it. Vehicle Inspectors were also at this location.

ahappychappy8:32 pm 13 Aug 09

Sorry – This is where I get confused and the P-Plater stereotype…

They issued over 22 (I say over as they did not specify how many infringements were issued at one location) infringements, of which 4 were provisional drivers. How is that a majority?

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