COPS IN HI-TECH LICENCE PLATE SWOOP:
MORE than 2300 drivers had their numberplates scanned as part of a wide-ranging road safety operation in Geelong yesterday.
The multi-agency operation involved uniform police, highway patrol and VicRoads officers along with a sniffer dog, automatic numberplate recognition technology and Border Force from Melbourne.
A site was set up in the car park of the Godfrey Hirst carpet factory at Fellmongers Rd, Breakwater, until lunchtime before officers relocated to Portarlington Rd.
Senior Sergeant Mick Turner said 2373 numberplates were scanned and 463 breath tests performed.
Officers caught two unlicensed drivers, one speeding, one failing to display Pplates, another driving while suspended and one with an unsecured load and detected six unregistered vehicles.
Sen-Sgt Turner said the agencies hoped to run a similar operation, in different locations across the region, every four to six weeks.
“It’s a multi-agency operation targeting unregistered vehicles and unlicensed drivers. We’ve got VicRoads targeting heavy vehicles and border force targeting international drivers, so we are trying to cover the range of offences that could happen on a daily basis,” he said.
“The ANPR scans vehicles driving past and can do a registration check and it can do a check to see if the owner of the car is licensed or not.
“We are doing breath tests and drug tests and we will use the sniffer dog in relation to drug search of vehicles when we suspect the driver may have drugs in the car.”