Speed Camera News Vicotoria, AU Water Police BLOCK SPEED SCAMERA in Pay Dispute!
Vicotoria Water Police BLOCK SPEED SCAMERA in Pay Dispute!
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Wedged in: Water police park between oncoming traffic and a speed camera operator in Footscray. Picture: Darren Howe
Police heave-to in drive to lift liquidity
BY GOYA DMYTRYSHCHAK
10 Aug, 2011 12:00 AM
VICTORIA'S water police last week plonked a boat between oncoming traffic and a speed camera operator as officers upped the ante in a bitter pay dispute.
Police and the state government are locked in a Mexican standoff over the police union's claim for a 4.5per cent increase. The government is offering 2.5 per cent.
Williamstown's Leading Senior Constable Matthew Blythe said the water police parked their boat in front of a speed camera to conduct welfare checks - albeit the first ones conducted inland at a busy intersection.
"Currently, we've got protected actions in place and one of those actions is to pull up and do a welfare check and, let's say, make the public alert that there's a speed camera there.
"Now, the speed cameras are designed to reduce speed traffic, so us being there still has that effect.
"Potentially, if the motoring public see a police vehicle - at this time it will be a police boat with its lights on and a police vehicle that's towing it - logically, if you see any emergency vehicle with its lights activated, it would slow you down. So, in theory, people will slow down and not get booked."
Water police may repeat the action at Werribee and Geelong.
"Sometimes we go by water and appear and sometimes we'll go to all the small ramps by land," Leading Senior Constable Blythe said.
"If we're patrolling past there and we come across a speed camera, as per the protection action, just like any other member, as long as it's safe to do so, we will park there and for about 10 to 15 minutes and [update] our day books."
Water police at Williamstown are trained in counter-terrorism and sometimes encounter harrowing scenes. In 2009, they found four-year-old Darcey Freeman in the Yarra River after she was thrown from the West Gate Bridge by her father.
The Police Association's Sandro Lofaro said Victoria Police was the worst-resourced force per capita in the country.
Government spokesman Simon Troeth said: "The government will continue to negotiate on good faith based on the principle that public sector wage rises above 2.5per cent must be offset with productivity improvements."
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