Victoria Police’s Operation Achilles targeting Melbourne hoons
These cops are leaving no stone unturned in their attempts to rid “death trap” cars and dangerous hoons from our roads. Here’s their operation in action.
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ANTI-HOON police have disrupted hundreds of potentially deadly car meetings since the inception of an operation dubbed Achilles to slash the road toll.
Victoria Police nabbed dozens of hoon drivers during a week of action ending August 27 when they issued 175 infringements and 104 defect notices, arrested 17 people and impounded 28 vehicles.
Officers saturated hooning hotspots, such as Campbellfield, Deer Park, Derrimut, Roxburgh Park, Tarneit and Tullamarine, suburbs where residents said they were fed up with skid meetings.
The taskforce is guided by public feedback under the force’s Neighbourhood Policing model, in a bid to stifle dangerous driving.
Victoria’s road toll is up 13 per cent on last year.
Acting Inspector Darren Kenos said Achilles had recruited specialist police, including mechanics and engineers, whose expertise helped catch hoons.
“Detectives recognise faces, but police on this taskforce can recognise cars, number plates and the smallest vehicle defects,” he said.
“The defect in a car is like a fingerprint; we have recruited experts who know what they are doing. We are targeting people who drive death traps.”
The taskforce has had to work to outsmart hoons, who communicate on Snapchat.
Organisers post about skid meetings just an hour before they’re scheduled.
While officers monitor social media, saturating the roads with police has proved effective.
Highway patrols, some unmarked, use number plate recognition technology to reveal who is on the roads, pulling over unregistered and unlicensed drivers, as well as conducting spot roadworthy checks on vehicles.
Their tactics had led to a drop in hoon meetings.
“We used to see 30-40 high-risk driving events a month, with up to 200 cars at each,” Inspector Kenos said.
“Now you can count the number of hooning meets on one hand. A large-scale event these days will be 20 cars.”
Car enthusiast Bee Leung Wai, 35, was issued a defect notice during the blitz, meaning he has 28 days to get his car roadworthy.
“You just can’t have nice things any more,” Mr Leung Wai said. “I don’t go to car meets, they are trouble to me. I just like to cruise.
“I love my car, it only comes out on the weekend.”
ACHILLES BRINGS THE RECKLESS TO HEEL
For Melbourne hoons, the “white ghost” marks the end of a night out at the skids.
The white unmarked highway patrol Mercedes-Benz has become a regular buzz killer for car enthusiasts breaking the law.
The vehicle can scan hundreds of number plates a minute, giving Victoria Police information on those attending high-risk driving events.
Operation Achilles, the anti-hoon task force, undertook a blitz in August to crack down on dangerous drivers.
The Herald Sun was granted exclusive access to observe the operation in action.
On a Friday night, officers set up a pop-up roadside testing centre in Deer Park, similar to a booze bus.
Drivers are breath-tested and their vehicles are examined by specialist police including First Constable Matt Parsons, a trained mechanic.
Bonnets are lifted, wheels inspected and other checks made.
For Achilles, it’s not about being the fun police, but preventing deadly behaviour among often inexperienced drivers in their late teens and early 20s.
“People gather to come and show off their cars, which is fine,” Constable Parsons says.
“But often they get into a pack-mentality mode and egg each other on to do dangerous things – burnouts, doughnuts, skids.”
Many car lovers respect what the force is doing, such as Louis, surname withheld, a Caroline Springs man issued a defect notice who says he has spent $60,000 on his Holden Commodore Calais.
“Police do a great job because there are arseholes out there,” he says.
“I’m shattered, spewing they got me. The modifications are brand new and I wanted to take it for a drive.”
Mason Kolevski, 18, says he lives and breathes cars. “Cops are just doing what they have to do,” he says.
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