NEWS: The Age - 29/10/08 'Inner city blitz planned to stamp out drugs (MEL)'

[hoptis]

Inner city blitz planned to stamp out drugs, assaults
Reko Rennie
October 29, 2008 - 4:48PM

Undercover police will hit the streets in inner Melbourne next week in a bid to stamp out anti-social behaviour.

A four-week crackdown on drug deals, drunkenness, unruly behaviour and assaults will home in the municipality of Yarra.

Code-named Operation Elizabeth, the blitz will involve undercover officers, uniformed officers, the police mounted branch and dog squad.

The crackdown will take place in and around the Richmond, Collingwood and Fitzroy housing estates, as well as popular shopping strips such as Victoria, Brunswick and Smith streets.

"Public order and drug related offences are serious crimes and is something we take very seriously'', acting Sergeant Will Hillis said.

"We want to send a clear message to people that drug use and anti social behaviour will not go by unnoticed and anyone choosing to take part in these activities will face serious consequences.''

Operation Elizabeth will start on Monday and end on November 28.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the same operation was performed by Yarra police last year. Almost 1200 people were quizzed by police 640 cars were checked and 44 people were arrested.

The Age

 

[js2k6]

the police presence is definitely increasing.

two weeks ago @ a city nightclub which i was at.
the policeforce.. which are usually plain-clothed undercovers. who go around asking anyone and everyone for drugs.

this time had arrived and were walking around in uniform, and fluro yellow police vests. (maybe they were trying to fit in lol) but it was impossible to miss them. and in all honesty this probably did more to stop the dealing in the club than anything else ever has.

so i think it's not just the streets they're going to be patrolling harder than normal. and it's not going to be just restricted to those areas, the CBD will most likely also be targeted.

it'd be good if they'd target some of the outer eastern suburbs. in particular ringwood, bayswater, lilydale, croydon and boronia stations. theres a lot of dodgy people doing dodgy things around there. maybe not as bad as collingwood. but i'm not a small guy, and i can take care of myself if the need ever arises, and when i venture out that way. i don't feel safe as junked-up deadshits eye me and my possessions off.

and don't even get me started on the newmarket / kensington area
you know..
the type of people that give drugs the bad name that they have among the australian public.

not to mention the amount of violence i've witnessed out at some of those places =/

 

[Dr.Feelgood]

and don't even get me started on the newmarket / kensington area
you know..
the type of people that give drugs the bad name that they have among the australian public.

not to mention the amount of violence i've witnessed out at some of those places =/

Ahh, the infamous Newmarket flats...crazy area.

 

[Hadrian]

I live about 100 metres from the Richmond commission flats. I walk to the end of my street and see heroin deals, needles in the gutter, people overdosed on benches on the main street (Victoria street) and people shooting up outside my house.

And almost zero police presence.

 

[swilow]

it'd be good if they'd target some of the outer eastern suburbs. in particular ringwood, bayswater, lilydale, croydon and boronia stations. theres a lot of dodgy people doing dodgy things around there. maybe not as bad as collingwood. but i'm not a small guy, and i can take care of myself if the need ever arises, and when i venture out that way. i don't feel safe as junked-up deadshits eye me and my possessions off.

Hmm, well I live in bayswater and there is never any drama to speak of that I notice. Not that much drugging really either. The most violent place is melbourne city staurday night IMO.

 

[js2k6]

Hmm, well I live in bayswater and there is never any drama to speak of that I notice. Not that much drugging really either. The most violent place is melbourne city staurday night IMO.

i used to live in bayswater
i grew up around croydon and baysie aswell.
and even more recently before i moved where i am now, i was living in montrose, and i'd take the train to boronia, and get picked up at night from the station.

this was mid 2007 tho, from baysie station to the 7-11
i'd been followed home by some dodgy fucker from the station. he followed me a good 2km up to my house on foot. later that night my neighbour found some guy hiding out in the bushes out front of our units.

but that train line is fucked, i hate it.
and out of all the places i've lived, i've seen more smack use than anywhere else.
my neighbour i just mentioned was into the H
he did over the 7-11 a couple of times to feed his habits.

a friend of the family used to go around baysie breaking into houses and cars, and offloading the stolen merch to feed his smack habit aswell.

makes me happy i never got roped into that scene.

last night, before clubbing however. the police presence in the CBD was obvious.
francis street, city last night.
walking in towards the club. there were at least 10 police officers, yellow vests. they were searching someones car, considering the location, i'd say they were probably trying to deal out of their car (as many people seem to do around there) and threatening to arrest a couple of them for drinking in the street. didnt wanna stick around too long to see what happened. way too sharded

if it cleans up the streets and makes it safer at night. then good.

 

[swilow]

^I gott say though, I hate the atmosphere of the CBD at night thesse days; kinda apocalytic or some shit...

 

[Tronica]

Yeah it isn't pleasant between midnight and dawn on Sundays in the CBD. My experience is more with alcohol-fuelled people just being idiotic. I haven't witnessed assaults but I know it happens a lot in the CBD from the data I've looked at!

 

[swilow]

^Yeah, defintely the booze heads. It sucks if your not big fan of drinking I must say and do.

 

[vanth]

Would you guys say the night time cbd is a lot different to the way it was 3-4 years ago? I didn't notice things being scary when back when I used to go out all the time and I'm wondering if all this is fairly recent or it was beginning to build back then and I was just clueless.

 

[mongman]

I don't think this is limited to inner city areas. I just cruised past one of Melbournes oldest open air heroin markets and stumbled upon 6-8 police cards involved in some sort of street level bust. They also seemed to be stopping cars to search them. If you know the area I'm talking about it was just off the main drag, they had blocked the street and had clearly intercepted something going down.

 

[Hadrian]

Today there's a police van driving around and officers on foot searching people.

(Richmond Commission flats)

 

[psytaco]

very big police presence when I walked bourke towards elisabeth st at about 4am sunday morning. Hummer, police response unit van and I would say in between 15 and 20 police officers. I thought someone might have been shot or stabbed but I had a look in the newspapers of the next few days and nothing. I think we are starting to see a big crack down by police in the CBD. If it was just to stop the violence I would be happy but I'm pretty sure drugs will be feature prominantly in the crimes they target.

 

[hoptis]

Noticed the same this evening, cnr Swanston & Flinders during evening peak hour, guys being searched in front of St Pauls.