Hoons on dirt and monkey bikes have been put on notice with the debut of Westgate Highway Patrol’s own fleet this week.
Wyndham council has splashed out $30,000 on two new trail bikes for Wyndham Police to enable increased patrols of public reserves following increasing complaints from local residents about hooning.
One 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 their Hoppers Crossing street and neighbouring streets.
Another Hawthorn Drive resident, who preferred to remain anonymous, likened the constant noise to “living on a race track”.
Sergeant Aaron Prentice-Evans, from Westgate Highway Patrol, said hooning on dirt and trail bikes had been a big issue 20 years ago when Wyndham was still considered to be a rural area, but the problem had recently resurfaced in some parts of the municipality.
He said Gordon O’Keefe Reserve in Wyndham Vale and Laverton North’s Lawrie Emmins Reserve were other hot spots for dirt bike and monkey bike riders.
“The idea is to have the trail bikes out as a highly visible presence in areas where other police vehicles can’t access,” he said.
“It expands the response capability that we’ve got.”
Sergeant Prentice-Evans said police would be relying on information coming through Crime Stoppers and police stations to respond to reports of hooning.
Wyndham safer communities portfolio holder Kim McAliney said the police dirt bikes were a great initiative.
