Hidden cops using night vision to catch out hoons
Hoons have been warned there is a “better than average” chance they are being watched, as cops find ingenious hiding spots to secretly film illegal activity.
Police & Courts
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Police are hiding in bushes, up trees and on roofs with hi-tech “night vision” cameras to covertly film hoons, catching up with drivers later at their homes or workplaces.
Hoons have been warned there is a “better than average” chance they are being watched when they gather in industrial areas to perform burnouts and drive dangerously.
It comes after a 17-year-old girl was left with a bleed on her brain and broken bones when she was hit by a car at a hoon meet in Sumner, the driver fleeing the scene.
Assistant Commissioner Ben Marcus said the new ultra-lowlight cameras, rolled out this year, were proving effective at helping police identify drivers who break the law.
“There are the police that you can see and the police that you can’t see - and we make no apologies for that,” he said.
“You go to a hoon meeting and (break the law) and you think that you’ve got away with it, there’s a better than average chance that you haven’t.
“We just haven’t caught up with you yet.”
Mr Marcus said police were using a combination of overt and covert strategies to disrupt hoons who gather in industrial backstreets, either arriving to break up the group or conducting surveillance to track down drivers later.
He said officers were using a combination of high tech “night vision” cameras, local government surveillance cameras or CCTV vision handed over by fed-up business owners.
Police are also making use of new legislation that puts the onus on the registered owner of a vehicle to prove who was driving.
For offences like hooning or drag racing, the owner is deemed to have been the driver unless they can prove otherwise.
Footage shot on the ultra low light cameras is analysed to identify number plates.
“(We’re filming) from in the bushes, on roofs, up trees, effectively with night vision. This is our new tactic and we don’t apologise for it,” Mr Marcus said.
“We’re spending the next week pulling it all apart and everybody committing every offence that we can detect will be explaining themselves to a magistrate.
“They like to think that they’re the world’s greatest drivers and that nothing can possibly go wrong.
“We have seen things go wrong many times - they drive into buildings, they drive into fences, they hit footpaths, they hit other cars.
“When you are in a vehicle doing things that the vehicle is not designed to do safely, things go wrong and people get hurt.”
Dyani was hit by a white Holden Commodore ute without plates as she crossed the road. The driver did not stop and police are still working to determine his identity.
In a separate case last year, a man was charged with dangerous driving after he crashed into a strip of shops while doing a burnout on the way to dropping students to their high school formal.
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