No-one nabbed at checkpoint

 PHOTO: STEPHEN JAQUIERY
PHOTO: STEPHEN JAQUIERY
Balclutha police officers work a checkpoint in Essex St, at the northern end of Balclutha, yesterday morning.

Six staff were involved in the operation from 11.30am to 12.10pm, a police spokeswoman said. About 150 drivers were breath-tested but none were processed for drink-driving, the spokeswoman said.

Staff also focused on ensuring people were wearing seatbelts, and were not driving while distracted. No infringement notices were issued, and officers were very pleased with the driving behaviour seen, she said.

Comments

So the point of these interruptions to all these innocent drivers' journeys was? It was a waste of the public's time and of police time. Haven't the police got any actual crime to be investigating? It can only erode any confidence in their ability at real law enforcement.

I suspect that word of this operation would have started to spread around Balclutha within minutes and anyone with something to hide would have avoided it like the plague. Therefore, how efficient are these sorts of operations in detecting offences? Could it be that they are really public relations exercises designed to wave the flag? I would prefer that the police took the staff tied up on this checkpoint, put them in unmarked patrol cars and send them out all around the town. I suspect they would detect far more offences of all types. But it wouldn't be such a high profile media PR opportunity, would it?