Page 2939 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 12 October 2022
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MADAM SPEAKER: Members, before I give Ms Orr the call, can I just remind you that I know that ministers are enthusiastic when waiting to reply to a question, but can you wait for the call.
MS VASSAROTTI: Sorry. I love question time so much!
ACT Policing—Operation TORIC
MS ORR: My question is to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services. Minister, can you please provide a further update on ACT Policing’s efforts to reduce instances of dangerous driving and stolen vehicles in the ACT.
MR GENTLEMAN: I thank Ms Orr for this important question and for her interest in community safety across the ACT. Operation TORIC, which we talked a little bit about yesterday, was established by ACT Policing in August to address an increase in stolen vehicles and related property offences, dangerous driving, failure to stop for police and deliberate ramming of police vehicle incidents occurring on ACT roads. The operation focuses on offenders in our community who wilfully and without care put themselves, their passengers and all other road users at significant risk through their driving behaviours.
Recidivism in the ACT results in a significant diversion of police resources to respond to dangerous driving events on our roads every day, and this affects ACT Policing’s ability to support the rest of the community at the same time. Offenders typically show a total disregard for both personal and public property, including deliberately causing damage to stolen vehicles and police vehicles to avoid apprehension.
I am pleased to report that Operation TORIC continues to make excellent progress. To date, the operation has achieved great success, with more than 70 apprehensions and more than 220 charges laid. The taskforce has been relentless in its mission, ensuring that those who believe they are above the law are arrested and placed before the court for their actions. Of those individuals charged, 25 were on bail for other offences, eight were on good behaviour orders, and two were subject to intensive corrections orders.
Importantly, the focus of Operation TORIC has been to reduce the risk to the community via a range of policing methods and to apprehend offenders with the least risk possible to the community. I commend the work of officers who were involved in Operation TORIC, and thank them for their excellent work.
MS ORR: Minister, what capabilities and specialised resources have been brought together to ensure Operation TORIC is a success?
MR GENTLEMAN: The officers who make up Operation TORIC are from a range of areas across ACT Policing, including the road policing area, general duties, intelligence, and the proactive intervention and diversion team. Specialist areas such as forensics, tactical response, drones, canine and others from across ACT Policing and the broader AFP are also supporting Operation TORIC. A key aspect of Operation TORIC is the use of non-traditional policing methods and intelligence gathering capabilities to identify key offenders and apprehend them using the safest
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