ACT Policing investigating rise of hoon videos on social media

Viral videos of burnouts tearing up Canberra streets have emerged online, with one cop saying a helicopter and more manpower could turn the tide for police.

Hoon pages promoting dangerous driving in Canberra have become viral with one of the territory’s top road cops providing possible solutions to make the streets safer.

Endless reels are flooding Instagram pages of skids across the ACT with some videos garnering thousands of views.

Hoon culture was firmly in the spotlight in Canberra in January during the Summernats car festival which attracted revheads from across Australia.

ACT Policing however were kept busy throughout the event, charging several people with vehicle related offences and seizing 13 cars over four days.

Road Policing Acting Inspector Mark Richardson, who made national headlines by calling hoons a “sub species of the human race”, said he’d had enough of that behaviour by the time he gave that press conference.

“Some of those people have no real regard for anyone else,” Inspector Richardson said.

“We’ve done a lot of rural driving and we’re shocked to see streets like Tidbinbilla Rd and Point Hut Crossing.

“The intersection looks like a bushfire has gone through there with the amount of rubber on the roads and debris from the tyres.”

ACT Policing Acting Inspector Mark Richardson. Picture: ABC News

Inspector Richardson said police were aware of the rise of the pages, including Capital Cartel, who have more than 10,000 Instagram followers.

The seasoned cop said that particular page was a spin off of the Mexican Hoon Cartel group.

Their exploits have made headlines on the Gold Coast in Queensland over the years, where they’ve been seeking notoriety by posting their reckless manoeuvres on social media.

According to their website, the group claim to perform their stunts “in protest of unfair laws that target hoons”.

Inspector Richardson said Canberra’s version was trying to emulate the group by flying the Mexican flag during their burnout videos.

“For us it’s obviously an intelligence led thing. We’re aware of the posts, and not just on Instagram but on Snapchat and encrypted apps,” he said.

Social media footage of hoons tearing up one of the ACT’s roads. Picture: Instagram

“We focus on the intelligence side, targeting their activities through disruption.”

He said there were punishments available for those who are caught including vehicle seizures, fines, disqualifications and criminal charges such as negligent and dangerous driving, but asked if there’s more that can be done.

ACT Government had already done a lot of work according to Inspector Richardson by introducing new legislation.

Inspector Richardson said getting sufficient police numbers to an incident was “always a challenge”, citing an incident where officers were “peppered with debris” by angry car enthusiasts when a car was being seized in O’Connor.

Some tools at police disposal included mobile detection devices, CCTV, automatic number plate recognition and more, but the seasoned cop said more could be done to tackle the problem.

“Other jurisdictions used aviation and Polair … having a helicopter in the ACT would be an extremely expensive exercise but if a helicopter was available there would be potential to monitor these incidents such as burnout meets and pursuits,” he said.

“We need to do something because obviously we see the comments after Summernats where the public are just sick of it.

“Do you provide them a burnout track or facility? Would it definitely move them from public roads to a facility?

“Part of the thrill is doing it on a public road … they gain some pleasure in doing this activity and potentially getting some level of notoriety.”