Deb Hann – Senior Constable
Last weekend police were called to a male sleeping in a vehicle south of Cambridge in which drug utensils had been seen.
Police found the drugs in clear view. The male was identified and found to be breaching his court bail conditions. A subsequent search of the vehicle found further drugs. Offensive weapons were also located along with the initial drug utensils. The male was arrested and held in custody to appear in court for breaching his active bail conditions along with several new charges.
In the seven days prior to writing, the team have again been busy including attending 10 burglaries, assaults, six family harm incidents, two suspicious activity reports, car theft, traffic crashes and looking for two missing persons. It was good to see that some suspicious activity was being reported after my column last week. As with any offending, the sooner the police are notified, the more we can do to investigate. Delays in reporting, mean that a suspicious vehicle or person will likely have moved on from an area. Please call as early as possible with as much detail as possible.
Finally today, I would like to talk driver’s licence suspensions. When you receive a ticket for driving offences such as speeding, using a mobile phone or breaching driver’s licence conditions, the penalty includes demerit points as well as a fine. If, through repeat incidents, you amass over 100 demerit points within a two-year period, your licence will automatically be suspended for three months.
The suspension starts from the time you are served with a licence suspension notice by police. You will be sent a letter from Land Transport Safety Authority advising you of the requirement for a suspension and your licence will be flagged for suspension with the police. One option is that you can go into your nearest police station to hand in your driver’s licence and be suspended. The alternative is that police will suspend your licence on the spot wherever they deal with you next – potentially less convenient.
Simply put, the suspension doesn’t go away if you ignore it, so my usual advice is to go in and sort it with police as early as possible.
The sooner you start, the sooner you finish.
If you make a choice to drive before your licence suspension is completed, the vehicle you are in will be impounded, regardless of who owns it.
In addition you will face a charge of driving whist suspended which then comes with a mandatory six month licence suspension. To avoid a suspension, simply follow the road rules.
Senior Constable Deb Hann – On the Beat
