Frankston, Dandenong hoons migrate to hold Knox meet-ups

POLICE are hailing their crackdown on hoons in Dandenong and Frankston a huge success. The problem is drivers are taking their burnout and skid meet-ups further up the highway.

HOONS driven out of Frankston and Dandenong are heading up the highway to host illegal meet-ups in Knox.

But police warn they are clamping down on the driving behaviour and impounding all cars involved.

The latest campaign, known as Operation Fenton, is targeting drivers coming to do skids and burnouts in suburbs such as Wantirna, Ferntree Gully, Knoxfield and Rowville.

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Knox highway patrol’s Sergeant Dave Young said there had been a recent rise in the number of hoon gatherings in industrial areas.

He said police had success disrupting meet-ups and found many of those caught were from the southeast.

“We’re starting to see a bit of a rise in people from those areas,” he said.

“When they’re heavily policed over there, they are coming in to our areas.”

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Sgt Young said most involved were men in their early 20s using modified cars to do burnouts and drag race each other while crowds watched on.

The meetings were organised via mobile phones and social media, he said.

“They’re quite sneaky in how they convey to each other how they’re going to meet up: Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, being on a particular call list that they’ll send out SMS alerts,” he said.

“They’ll say, ‘we’re meeting up at industrial estate to burn rubber’.”

Sgt Young said extra resources were deployed to the operation and he appealed to business owners and the public to alert police if they caught hoons in the act.

“We don’t want them confronting people or acting like vigilantes but if you can discreetly film someone doing something wrong, we can investigate it,” Sgt Young said.

Sgt Young said hoons were a danger to themselves and other road users and the penalties were severe

“We have a ‘no warning’ policy,” he said. “Whatever offence you commit, you will be charged. Your car will be impounded. You’ve lost your car for 30 days and you most likely will be going to court.”

Operation Fenton would continue indefinitely, he said. Anyone who sees hoon activity is urged to ring 000.