COPS GO CLUBBING
BLUE LIGHT DISCO: Police, sniffer dogs to hit nightspots
GEELONG nightclub patrons will be subject to regular drug screening at venues as police unleash ‘clubbing cops’ and sniffer dogs to weed out drugs from the city’s night-life.
The police crackdown is set to be an ongoing measure to clean up Geelong’s clubbing scene, targeting some of the city’s most popular venues including Lambys, Bloom and St James for drug and alcohol breaches.
Geelong Senior Sergeant Mick Turner said the ongoing operations would aim to make the city a safer place at night.
GEELONG nightclub patrons will be subject to regular drug screening at venues as police unleash ‘clubbing cops’ and sniffer dogs to weed out drugs from the city’s night-life.
The police crackdown is set to be an ongoing measure to clean up Geelong’s club scene, targeting some of the city’s most popular venues including Lambys, Bloom and St James for drug and alcohol breaches.
Geelong Senior Sergeant Mick Turner said the ongoing operations would aim to make the city a safer place at night.
“Police will do the lines through the nightclubs — such as Lambys, Bloom and St James — all the nightclubs hoping to detect anyone that is taking drugs into a nightclub,” he said.
“We are endeavouring to make the city a safer, healthier and better place to be.”
Operations would ramp up over the summer period, with police targeting patrons walking between licensed venues and standing in line along the city’s party strip. Drug-sniffer dogs would also be walked along the queues in a bid to keep drugs out of venues.
“It will be in the CBD and nightclubs areas — but we can target anyone, anywhere in Geelong,” Sen Sgt Turner said.
“During summer it will be active even more.”
The new measure comes after Operation Pluto was held earlier this month, where 15 people were busted with drugs over the nights between September 7 and 9. Two people were charged on summons for drug possession and one man was charged with trafficking MDMA.
Police also cautioned eight people for possessing cannabis and four people received drug diversions for possessing cocaine or MDMA.
Sen Sgt Turner said the operation was “very successful” when it came to drug detection rates, with police patrolling the CBD on foot and horseback.
“It was a very successful detection rate — over 20 people were processed and cautioned,” he said.
The director of Events Management Company Group (EMC) Darren Holroyd — who manages some of the city’s most popular licensed venues — backed the new police initiative.
“We support it — as long as it’s not deterring people to come into the town,” he said.
“At the end of the day we don’t like to see drugs in the venues either. either.”