Agencies join for hunt

By Kath Gannaway
FRAUDSTERS, drunks and traffic offenders are on notice – police and Centrelink have joined forces and they’re out to get you.
Sgt John Morgan of the Yarra Ranges Traffic Management Unit spelled out an unmistakable message last week after a four day operation across the shire caught a driver registering more than twice the .05 limit and 20 Centrelink customers suspected of incorrectly declaring income.
The TMU’s Operation Pincer ran from 24 to 27 October in what Sgt Morgan said was a one-stop law-enforcement shop involving police, Centrelink, Taxi Directorate and VicRoads.
Offences included 108 unroadworthy vehicles, four disqualified drivers, seven unlicensed drivers and 20 unregistered vehicles.
Taxi Directorate officials checking taxis and tow-trucks issued notices for 17 offences including an unlicensed bus driver, three unroadworthy vehicles and an unregistered vehicle.
Sgt Morgan said police said with a death toll in Yarra Ranges already on 11, just two less than the whole of 2005, police are committed to keeping the death toll down.
He said involving other agencies bolstered police numbers and gave a more visible presence.
Sgt Morgan said he continued to be amazed by the stupidity of drink drivers. He said a 49-year-old driver caught by Operation Pincer had a reading of .123 at 11.10am in the morning.
“It’s not a bad reading before lunch,” Sgt Morgan observed.
“I wonder what he would have blown if we’d got him at 9 or 10pm.”
He said one of his officers in the weeks leading up to Pincer had charged a P plater with being .164 and two disqualified drivers with readings of .155 and .142. A driver involved in a collision registered .246.
“This is insane. This is just one policeman over a two week period and I have nine policemen here.”
Clearly frustrated by the carnage on Yarra Ranges roads, Sgt Morgan threw down the gauntlet.
He said police would target disqualified drivers.
“We’ll sit off your house or work location and if we get you.
“Not only do you run the risk of going to jail but we will also apply for your car to be confiscated,” he warned.
He said Pincer demonstrated that drivers at any given moment could stumble inadvertently into a major operation.
“That’s fine if they are doing the right thing,” he said. “But if they’re not, watch out!”
Yarra Ranges TMU will run a series of traffic operations over the next two months.