A strong police presence will be evident in the Dubbo CBD this Easter long weekend as part of the Australia-wide Operation Unite campaign.
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It follows an operation on Wednesday that led to eight people being arrested on drug possession charges.
Senior police from the Orana Local Area Command are determined to ensure revellers don’t cause trouble and those who do will face tougher penalties.
Operation Unite started on Thursday night and will continue on Saturday and Sunday nights.
Orana LAC duty officer and forward commander for Wednesday’s drug detection operation, Gemini Bakos, said people should be able to enjoy themselves during Easter without having to tolerate antisocial behaviour.
“Operation Unite will crack down on alcohol-related crime and antisocial behaviour ,” Inspector Bakos said.
“The operation will be conducted in Dubbo, Wellington, Gilgandra and Narromine and highway patrol will also be involved.
“They have their own operation over the Easter long weekend but we will work together.”
Inspector Bakos said Wednesday’s drug operation was a good example of high visibility policing.
“Twelve police were deployed for that operation, including one drug detection dog and one dog handler,” Inspector Bakos said.
“We searched 27 people, 22 of those were detected by the drug dog. We arrested eight people and laid nine charges. Seven of those were for possession of a prohibited drug.
“Highway patrol were also involved in that operation and they conducted 50 random breath tests, handed out 15 traffic infringements and one criminal infringement.
“The community was very happy to see us out in volume and we hope to conduct similar operations again in the future.”
Operation Unite was held on Thursday between the hours of 6pm and 4am.
It will resume on Saturday night at 6pm and continue until 6am, with the same hours on Sunday.
Police will be enforcing the new tougher laws against antisocial behaviour including the one-punch laws.
Bigger fines will also be handed out for some infringements.
Fines for offensive conduct and offensive language have each risen from $200 to $500 while continued intoxication or disorderly behaviour following a move on direction from police is now an $1100, up from $200.