Police accused of "straight up revenue raising" after controversial act
New South Wales Police has been called out for the controversial way an officer hid to catch unsuspecting motorists during the double demerits public holiday over the Anzac Day weekend.
Motoring journalist David McCowen accused the police of "straight up revenue raising" after capturing a video of an unmarked police car blocking a busy cycle path in a “hidden” spot on the Alfords Point Bridge in Sydney’s southwest on Sunday.
“This is bulls**t,” McCowen said in the clip which has been viewed more than 500,000 times.
“This is a highway patrol dude that is blocking a cycleway and running path here at Alfords Point Bridge between St George and Sutherland Shire, trying to book people hidden behind a concrete wall in an unmarked car on a double demerits weekend on a long downhill descent on a bridge."
“That’s just crap. That is not serving the community. That is straight up revenue raising and I’m not about it. You can’t see him.”
He added that “what you can see though” was how dozens of people had marked the location of “this bloke that’s trying to rip you off” on the popular navigation app Waze.
“That is a cool thing,” he said.
The video quickly raked in hundreds of comments condemning the "hypocritical" police behaviour, with one person writing, “Isn’t that a parking violation?”
Another woman said, “My husband got a $300 fine recently for ‘park on footpath/verge’. Old mate should issue himself the same fine.”
“It’s why people have lost respect for police,” one person added.
While most people were frustrated by the police officer's act, others sided with law enforcement, as one person said, “If you live in the area you already know not to speed there,” one said.
“He’s hidden for a reason, the amount of people that slow down then speed up again. It's not safe."
Image credits: TikTok