By Derek Schlennstedt
SES kept busy
Emerald SES attended more than 20 call-outs in the Dandenong Ranges on Sunday night as strong winds buffeted the area.
Unit controller Ben Owen told the Mail that calls started coming in from 6.40pm on 8 September.
Most of those incidents were tree-related, although crews were also called to a car crash along Wellington Road.
“We had over 20 calls in 12 hours with at one stage all four vehicles on the road,” Mr Owen said.
“Shortly before 7.30pm we also got a call to a car crash.
“With crews already on the road we got on scene within five minutes to provide assistance and assisted a person out of the vehicle.”
It is understood that there were three people in the car when it lost control and flipped onto its side, just before Aura Vale Road.
“There was an elderly lady in the car and the car was on its side, so we needed to fold the roof down so ambulance crews could assist,” Mr Owen said.
“There was great assistance from CFA, ambulance and police and thank you to the public who assisted before emergency services arrived.”
Mr Owen said five new unit members had just passed general rescue training and all assisted at incidents throughout the night.
Anyone interested in joining Emerald SES can visit www.facebook.com/EmeraldSES.
First ANPR car on the road
Unauthorised drivers in the Yarra Ranges will find it much harder to flout the law with the addition of a new highway patrol car equipped with Victoria Police’s new automatic number plate recognition (ANPR).
The technology allows police to detect suspended, disqualified or unlicensed drivers as well as unregistered and stolen vehicles and stolen number plates.
The car is one of 221 ANPR units being deployed across the state over the next two years.
Yarra Ranges Highway Patrol officers started patrols in the car last Friday 6 September.
It detected 270 vehicles of interest in its first three days.
Yarra Ranges Highway Patrol Sergeant David McIlfatrick said the car was able to scan number plates and match them against a database of vehicles of interest.
“It’s able to scan thousands of number plates per shift which we wouldn’t ordinarily be able to do,” he said.
The cars are also fitted with in-car video to record audio and visual evidence that can be used in court.
Sgt McIlfatrick said it was hoped that public awareness of the video system would enhance officer safety by deterring and de-escalating potential incidents.
