'A new low': Speeding tickets issued by police officer hiding in bushes will stand
Brisbane drivers who were issued speeding tickets by a police officer hiding in bushes will be made to pay their fines despite the officer being ordered to stop the sneaky tactic.
The images were shared to social media and prompted heated discussion online, with people describing the covert operation to catch speeding drivers as ridiculous.
Yet despite Road Policing Command Assistant Commissioner Mike Keating telling Yahoo News Australia last month the officer was ordered to “cease operating from that position immediately”, Queensland Police revealed fines handed out during the deployment would stand.
“The operation of the speed camera on 3 May 2019 at Petrie has met the relevant legislation and manufacturer,” a Queensland Police spokesperson said.
“All speeding detections arising from that deployment were adjudicated and those detections that have met requirements have been processed and infringement notices issued to the registered owner of the vehicle.”
The spokesperson said all deployments are reviewed by the Road Safety Camera Office “to ensure that the approved photographic detection device was operated in compliance with the legislation and operational requirements of the device”.
In the wake of criticism, the spokesperson said the officer’s actions had been “reviewed against the policy and the officer has not done anything wrong.”
They did however say the officer has been “given guidance about public perception.”
Ticket recipient ‘disgusted’
One angered woman, whose husband received a ticket for the same date and location the officer was in the bushes, told Yahoo News Australia she believes his behaviour was well below what is expected from the force.
“I was disgusted at the ‘get them at all cost’ attitude,” she said.
“Having to crawl through bushes to secure a hidey-hole, like a sniper ready to pick off the enemy.
“Since when has the community been the enemy?”
Her husband, who was driving a company vehicle at the time, was hit with a fine of $870, which can be reduced to a $174 fine with one demerit point once a driver is nominated.
She told Yahoo News Australia she believes the police are becoming far more deviant with the way they try and catch speeding motorists.
“I always see patrol cars in the shrubbery on median strips, and speed camera vans squirreled behind pylons and highway fencing,” she said.
“It's the hiding and sneakiness that rattles me.
“But a single officer camouflaged in the bushes? That's a new low. Where is the line drawn? As it just seems to be getting lower and lower all the time.”
She said she was disappointed that the officer’s actions were enough for him to be told to stop but “legitimate” for issuing tickets.
She has called on Queensland Police to revoke the tickets handed out by the officer and for an apology to be issued after the officer’s actions “failed to meet the public’s expectations”.
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