Bundaberg Police share insights into tracking down the infamous ‘Night Rider’

The infamous Bundaberg ‘Night Rider’ has terrorised suburban streets at speeds of up to 190km/h on a motorbike. For the first time police have revealed details of their probe in the hope of stopping another death.

Police have said the mission to apprehend the ‘Night Rider’ is made difficult by the extreme speeds the riders are driving at which prevents them from initiating chases in a timely manner.

Bundaberg police have given insights into the “frustrating” task of tracking down the town’s infamous Night Rider saying copycats, repeat offenders, extreme speeds and even fatal crashes have made the job extremely challenging.

The Night Rider has become a personality in the Bundaberg community and in online forums, and is a known motorbike rider who often travels at extreme speeds through Bundaberg streets, the noise of the roaring engine heard kilometres away.

The presence of the rider has triggered concerns among residents who have been left wondering what police are doing to track the person down.

On Thursday, Bundaberg Police Chief Inspector Grant Marcus and Acting Sergeant Gordon Hard shared details into their ongoing investigation into the Night Rider’s identity.

Police had been working diligently for almost two years to tackle the issue, but “copycats” and return offenders had added a level of complexity to their inquiries.

“It isn’t an easy problem to solve, once you have actually prosecuted someone only to see them replaced by another person to do the same ridiculous and dangerous act, it really is frustrating,” Inspector Marcus said.

“We understand the community is wondering what is happening, but all we can say is police are doing a lot of work in the background.”

Chief Inspector Grant Marcus has shared insights into the efforts to track down the ‘Night Rider.’

Sergeant Hard said police were monitoring four persons of interest acting as the Night Rider and had already placed several before the court.

“Police are very mindful of a number of motorcycle riders who are persons of interest that we are focusing our attention on, and from our perspective it will only be a matter of time before they’re apprehended and prosecuted,” he said.

“Our aim is to apprehend them before they kill themselves or someone else on the road.

“What they are doing is extremely dangerous, reckless and a total disregard for other community members.”

Inspector Marcus said a young motorbike rider who was a person of interest in the hunt for the Night Rider had tragically died as a result of their dangerous riding last year.

Despite an ongoing investigation, police said unregistered bikes with stolen, illegal or false plates had made identifying the Night Rider difficult, with speed cameras unable to identify riders hiding behind helmets and other riding gear.

“People say ‘how about we put up speed camera’ and can we do that, and we are doing that, but we still have to identify who the rider is,” Mr Marcus said.

Police have clocked riders driving at speeds of up to 190 km/hr in 60km zones.

Mr Marcus said initiating a high speed chase was simply not feasible.

The ‘Night Rider’ has long been a topic of discussion in online local forums, as copycats pose as the dangerous rider for social media attention.

“The last thing we want to do at this stage is to chase after them and not only put the police officers at risk, but more importantly other community members at risk by initiating some sort of pursuit when these people clearly have got a complete disregard for road rules,” he said.

As police continue to work with internal agencies such as DICE (the Digital Intelligence Collection and Evaluation team) to evaluate online chatter, they are calling on the community to come forward with any information they may have.

“We’re hoping that there are residents out there that have a motorcycle rider in their street which could be one of the ones we are focusing on, and if they can bring the information forward that would be great,” Mr Marcus said.

Beyond the dangerous driving, Mr Marcus said the loud noises of the roaring engine, which often occurs at night, showed a total disregard for the most vulnerable in the community.

“It’s showing a contempt for others; community members such as those who are sick, elderly and just trying to sleep, parents of young new babies, shift workers, those recovering from surgery who are all trying to sleep,” he said.

Mr Marcus further called on those who suspect a friend or family member was partaking in the dangerous activity to step forward and perhaps save the life of their loved one.

“If people or family know who these Night Riders are, we ask that they do everything that they can to prevent them from repeating this dangerous behaviour, remove the keys from the motorcycle,” Mr Marcus said.

Originally published as Bundaberg Police share insights into tracking down the infamous ‘Night Rider’