Her Honour had to get through 72 matters stemming from late November through to January. The large crowd standing out front of Corowa Local Court was testament to the busy summer period.
As usual, the myriad of matters ranged from drink and drug driving, dangerous driving and burnout, domestic violence and AVOs, firearm offences and an assault in licensed premises.
Over the period, eight people came to attention for driving with over the prescribed concentration of alcohol.
Corowa Sergeant Steve Marshall said that the number appeared to be slightly up from last year.
“We’ve been targeting vehicles in and around licensed premises,” Sgt Marshall said.
“Given the results and continual information provided by the public, we will continue this until people are reminded of the message.
“Corowa geographically is not a large town so there is absolutely no reason to drink and drive if you live in town.”
In recent months NSW Police have had significant changes in roadside drug testing legislation and procedures, which now has all police vehicles capable of conducting roadside drug tests anywhere, anytime without the need to arrest and bring the driver back to the police station.
This has freed up police to conduct more roadside drug tests, which is what Corowa and Mulwala Police intent to do.
Drug dealers
“We know who our drug dealers are, and we know what you drive,” Sgt Marshall said.
As opposed to random breath testing for alcohol, roadside drug testing has no requirement to be random and so we will be targeting those known to police as dealers and users.”
The sergeant has issued a firm message to those who drive under the influence of drugs.
“If you think that you are going to put the community at risk whilst driving under the influence of cannabis, cocaine or methamphetamine, we will show you otherwise,” he said.
Appeal to older generation; one woman was brilliant
Finally, an appeal to the older generation in Corowa.
“More and more we are receiving reports of online scam, telephone scams, Facebook Marketplace scams and many more types of scams,” Sgt Marshall said.
“Recently, an elderly woman had the presence of mind to contact Corowa Police when she received numerous calls from a person claiming to be from an organisation protecting her from a potential fraud and asking for her banking details and mobile phone details - all items that could have led to a substantial amount of money being stolen from her accounts.
“To her credit the lovely lady contacted Corowa Police who confirmed that the caller was trying to defraud her of her money.
“Police provided her with a not-so-friendly suggested reply when the caller rang back, and it worked a treat.
“These people prey on the elderly and not-so-technologically advanced members of our community.
“They prey on your trust only to betray it and in some cases remove victims’ entire savings.”
If you are suspicious of anyone asking for your bank and contact details over the phone, contact Corowa Police on 02 69322899. Police would rather spend a couple of minutes providing advice than a couple of months investigating a major fraud.
Crime Prevention Tips
NSW Police have comprehensive Crime Prevention tips online through the NSW Police Internet Site.
There are videos that tell you want to be aware of, what to do and what not to do.
If you don’t want to go through the pages, there is a link to the Crime Prevention site where you can access all of the videos in English and other languages.
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