Police urge revellers to stay safe for a merry Christmas and New Year

POLICE have encouraged people to enjoy the festive season without anti-social behaviour or drink-|driving.

Clarkson police Senior Sergeant Stephen Foley said police would be targeting anti-social behaviour over the next month.

“We are implementing an action plan to target anti-social behaviour in parks and open spaces,” he said.

“We have had some incidents of youths dealing in an anti-social manner in Butler, so we will be targeting those.

“We are also targeting drink-driving and hoon behaviour.

“The traffic enforcement group will be assisting us in doing that, targeting drivers who drink and hoon around the place.”

The double demerit period will run from Friday, December 22 to January 7.

Yanchep police Sergeant Chris Wride said people travelling should look out for fatigue issues and take advantage of driver reviver stops.

“Don’t drink and drive; we will be out in force,” he said.

Sgt Foley said people who planned to drink should arrange to get lifts with non-drinkers or take a taxi.

Sgt Wride said people who were going away should ask neighbours to pull bins in and use timers on lights. He said people should not leave packaging from gifts in view and instead put them in the garage.

“If you are getting packages delivered over Christmas, arrange for them to be left out of sight,” he said.

“We get a lot of theft of packages from front doors.”

Sgt Wride said people should avoid leaving valuables in cars after a recent incident where a car was stolen using the key when the owner put it in a key box.

The car has since been recovered and police had charged a man (31) and woman (33) with stealing a vehicle, theft and fraud offences.

“We see an increase in thefts from vehicles along the beachfront (in summer),” Sgt Wride said.

He also reminded parents and children that school grounds were “out of bounds” during the holidays, with police and education security patrolling schools.

“It they do enter, they could be facing police attention for trespassing,” he said.

Sgt Foley said local police were running an operation targeting fuel offences, where people stole petrol, and had recently arrested some people in relation to thefts.

“The stealing of fuel from service stations is occurring on a regular basis,” he said.

“Usually there’s a small number of people that commit the majority of offences.”