NSW Police have launched a high-visibility operation for this year’s Bathurst 1000 with hundreds of officers stationed across Mount Panorama.
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Around 200,000 people, including competitors, officials and spectators, are expected to descend on Mount Panorama and Assistant Commissioner Geoff McKechnie said officers are ready.
There will be 300 police officers stationed around the Mount for the festival, along with more than 70 additional traffic and highway patrol police on the roads.
“Local officers and specialist police will be out in force across the event footprint, focusing on road safety and crowd behaviour, and minimising the impact of the event on the local community,” Assistant Commissioner McKechnie said.
He said recent terror attacks overseas involving vehicles have resulted in adjustments to police procedures this race week.
“We’ve made some changes around mitigating the risks of vehicle-borne attacks,” Assistant Commissioner McKechnie said.
“We’ve spoken to the police working here about our response to that type of incident.
“There’s no specific threat for the event this weekend, but having said that we’re prepared.
“We understand the risk of that type of incident and we are taking steps to reduce that risk as much as we can.”
Specialist police from the public order and riot squad, operations support group, dog unit, PolAir, licensing police, bicycle unit, youth command and police transport command have also been called in.
“It’s a fantastic event, it’s very much family friendly and we don’t tolerate poor behaviour, we don’t tolerate excessive intoxication,” Assistant Commissioner McKechnie said.
“Last year was pretty much trouble free and this year we anticipate a similar type of event.”
On roads around Bathurst, police issued 15 speed infringement notices on Wednesday to motorists.
“It’s not acceptable and we will keep focusing on that area. People need to obey the road rules and get here safely,” Assistant Commissioner McKechnie said.
“Please if you’re travelling to Bathurst this weekend, drive to the conditions, drive to the rules, don’t drink and drive.”