NSW: Highway patrol not depleted by bikie gang squad - police

AAP General News (Australia)
04-08-2009
NSW: Highway patrol not depleted by bikie gang squad - police

SYDNEY, April 8 AAP - A police crackdown on NSW bikie gangs won't mean fewer highway
patrol officers on the NSW roads this Easter weekend, Deputy Commissioner Dave Owens says.

NSW Police on Wednesday launched Operation Tortoise, their annual Easter holiday weekend
crackdown on speeding and other offences.

Double demerit points will be in force from midnight on Wednesday night until 11.59pm
(AEST) on Monday, with police hoping to emulate last year's holiday road toll of zero.

But with the year's road toll at 115, up from 100 at this time in 2008, the NSW opposition
says the seconding of highway patrol officers to other police operations, such as the
bikie crackdown Strike Force Raptor, has left the roads under-manned this Easter.

Mr Owens disputed the claims there would be insufficient highway patrol officers.

"We don't talk specific numbers but there will be a significant increase in highway
patrol officers working over this Easter break," Mr Owens told reporters in Sydney on
Wednesday.

"Operation Raptor is targeting the bikies, and we make no apologies for that.

"The highway patrol officers attached to Raptor are on the road to detect offences
- that includes the bikies and it includes street racing."

Mr Owens said more police resources would be pumped into rural areas, because 75 per
cent of the increase in the road toll this year had occurred in non-metropolitan areas.

"We will be putting more resources into the rural areas to reduce the road toll in
those areas," he said.

"We have saturation through Operation Tortoise.

"It is not just highway patrol officers that will be targeting these offences, it is
every police officer in NSW."

Police are hoping for a repeat of last Easter when no one died on the state's roads
for the first time since statistics began to be collected in 1949.

"We had no fatals last Easter, I would be a very happy police officer if we could do
that again this year," Mr Owens said.

"Our focus is on excessive speed, drink or drug driving, driver fatigue, not wearing
a seatbelt and not wearing a helmet.

"If every driver in NSW sticks to the speed limit, wears seat belts, takes regular
breaks and doesn't drink and drive, it will go a long way towards minimising our Easter
road toll and getting our annual road toll figures back on track."

Double demerit points apply for all speeding, helmet and seatbelt offences.

AAP ab/wjf/ht

KEYWORD: TORTOISE

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