Hoppers Crossing residents fed up with hoons on dirt bikes may soon get some relief after Wyndham council bought local police dirt bikes of their own.
City operations director Stephen Thorpe last week announced the council had spent $30,000 on two trail bikes for Wyndham Police “to allow for increased patrols of public reserves”.
“This is not something that we are required to do, but something that will hopefully help lead to a reduction in this issue for residents,” he said.
A Hawthorn Drive resident, who did not want to be named, said he and his wife had called police about 10 times in the past three months to complain about dirt bikes on the reserve backing on to Hawthorn Drive in Hoppers Crossing and other neighbouring streets.
The man said the ongoing problem had picked up considerably since March this year.
“We spoke to someone in the police station in Werribee, who advised us to call triple-0 and report it whenever it happened, and they could slowly build a case,” he said.
“It’s been many, many calls since, and not much has happened.”
Another Hawthorn Drive resident, who preferred to remain anonymous, likened the constant noise to “living on a race track”.
“These riders have no regard for anyone,” the resident said.
“Someone is going to get hurt or killed if this is not stopped.”
Yet another resident, who did not want to be named, said the same issue had occurred a few years ago, and in that instance police had used dirt bikes to great effect.
The resident said the trouble had been progressively getting worse ever since the council-funded program stopped.
“It’s in a family park, there’s people walking around, it’s a lead-less reserve, so there’s dogs running around everywhere,” the resident said. “Then they stir up the turf and everything.”
