By Alesha Capone
Police have intercepted a number of motorists breaching COVID-19 regulations on the backroads of Werribee and Little River.
Geelong Highway Patrol officers have been patrolling the roads since the six-week pandemic lockdown began on July 8.
As Little River is located partially in the Wyndham municipality and partially in the Greater Geelong municipality, residents and travellers on either side face different pandemic restrictions.
Last week, police posted on the official Geelong Eyewatch Facebook page that officers using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology had already detected “a number of motorists breaching the COVID regulations”.
“The mobile intercepts are part of an ongoing police operation in the area ensuring strict COVID compliance in combination with road safety enforcement,” the post said.
“These patrols will continue in this area and persons intercepted breaching the COVID regulations risk large fines.”
A Victoria Police spokesperson said vehicle checkpoints have been set up across eight major arterial roads to ensure stage three lockdowns for Greater Melbourne and Mitchell Shire are adhered to.
“The checkpoints will be operational 24 hours a day and will remain in place for the coming weeks,” the spokesperson said.
“Police will be intercepting vehicles at random to ensure they are complying with the stage three restrictions.
“Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology will also be used at these sites to detect vehicles that are registered to owners who live in LGAs [local government areas] currently in stage three stay at home restrictions.
“We won’t be providing a running commentary on where police will be located and their daily enforcement activities, however the community can be assured that police will be out and about in significant numbers across the state.”
