Investigation Into Dirt Bikes And Street Racing Sees Almost 100 Vehicles Impounded, More Than 100 People Charged
More than 130 people have been arrested or charged and
almost 100 vehicles
and dirt bikes have been
impounded, following a year-long operation
by
Counties Manukau Police targeting dirt bike and
illegal street racing
activity.
Operation
Whakatika was launched at the beginning of 2021 to
investigate
reported offending on the roads by dirt
bike riders and illegal
street
racers.
Throughout the year the
Counties Manukau District Prevention Unit has
been
following up reports of dirt bike and street
racing offending, investigating
complaints and
obtaining evidence to identify and locate offending
drivers
and riders with the aim of prosecuting or
fining those involved and
impounding their vehicles
and bikes.
As a result of 12 month of dedicated work
targeting these offenders, 59 dirt
bikes have been
impounded and 39 vehicles have been impounded.
88
people have been arrested or charged in relation to dirt
bike activity,
with 44 arrests or charges laid in
connection to illegal street racing
activity for
offences such as dangerous driving and sustained loss
of
traction.
169 infringement notices have
also been issued for dirt bike activity and
579
infringements were issued by the unit for
illegal street racing. Almost 2,500
vehicles were
stopped and inspected over the year as part of the
operation.
Inspector Jared Pirret, Counties Manukau
District Prevention Manager, says
the team of
officers working on Operation Whakatika have done an
outstanding
job of identifying and taking follow up
action against offending riders
and
drivers.
“We know that our community
get frustrated at the dangerous and often
brazen
antics by dirt bike riders and street racers.
“Often
when Police are notified at the time to these types of
reports, we
are not in a position to immediately
intervene as it creates significant
safety risks
for those involved as well as other innocent road
users.
“While we may not be able to take immediate
action at the time for safety
reasons, we want to
reassure the community that we do take this
offending
seriously and we have a team working hard
to identify and locate offenders
and impound their
bikes or vehicles.
“Our results speak for
themselves, and we want this to be a message to
dirt
bike riders and illegal street racers causing
issues on our roads – we will
keep investigating
those involved, impounding your vehicles and bikes
and
issuing fines or prosecuting you.”
As a
result of enquiries into dirt bike riders, Police also
recovered 25
stolen vehicles. Three riders had
their licences suspended and 53 riders
were
forbidden from riding.
In relation to
illegal street racing activity, 23 vehicles
were
pink-stickered and ordered off the road as
they were deemed unsafe, while 79
vehicles were
green-stickered and deemed non-compliant.
“While we
are very pleased with the results to date, we continue to
receive
complaints in relation to dirt bike riders
and street racers and we will
continue to
investigate offending on our roads, impound vehicles
and
prosecute where necessary,” says Inspector
Pirret.