Queensland Police deputise public to catch hoons

The Queensland Police Service is asking the public to upload photos and videos of dangerous driving as part of an effort to target hoons.

A new portal called Policelink has been set up for citizens to share evidence, in what the Queensland Police Service (QPS) is calling a “world first”.

The videos and photos can be used by police to identify drivers and assign fines and lay charges.

“The online facility has only been operating for a matter of weeks, and already the community has responded providing police with critical pieces of evidence,” Assistant Commissioner Ben Marcus of the Road Policing and Regional Support Command said at the announcement.

“The support and co-operation of the community is very important to police work, and this upload capability provides another significant way in which members of the public can assist police,” he said, adding the system meets the organisation’s cybersecurity guidelines.

An anonymous Queensland-based group known for uploading videos of hoon behaviour ridiculed the announcement on its Facebook page, saying there was a reason similar programs didn’t exist elsewhere.

“Other police forces around the world actually do their jobs rather than focus on rubber tyres breaking traction on a road.”

Along with having their vehicle impounded or immobilised, hoon-related offences can attract fines of up to $5338 and terms of imprisonment of up to six months.

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The QPS has been leaning on video technology to catch drivers doing the wrong thing, with another initiative catching almost 500 people each day either not wearing their seatbelt or using a mobile phone.

“We’re cracking down on phone fiends and those not wearing seatbelts – with new anywhere, anytime high-tech cameras and heavy fines,” Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said.

“We know using a phone while driving is the equivalent of getting behind the wheel with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.07-0.10 – it’s just not on.”

Despite a three-month warning period, more than 37,500 people have been caught by the cameras since November 1 last year, with 70 per cent found to have been using their phone while driving.