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Speaker 1: You are listening to Mix one O four nine's three sixty.

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Speaker 1: Now we know the Northern Territory Police Force were out

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Speaker 1: in well, they were out in force of course over

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Speaker 1: the Easter long weekend with multiple high visibility operations across

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory. Joining me in the studio is Superintendent

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Speaker 1: of the Road Policing Division, Rick mcgrae. Good morning to you, Rick.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. How are you.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, very well. Now, busy weekend, I'm sure, how did

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Speaker 1: it all go? Talk us through the operation?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a really busy weekend. But the nice

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Speaker 2: part about it for the majority of the weekend for

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Speaker 2: our team in general, it was being busy in a

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Speaker 2: proactive way. So the team did some amazing work all

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Speaker 2: throughout the territory in relation to road policing and through

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Speaker 2: the work that they've done, we had some really good

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Speaker 2: outcomes with no fatalities over the long weekend, which is

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Speaker 2: great and to my knowledge, no serious crashes or none

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Speaker 2: that I've been red, which is very different from a

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Speaker 2: lot of long weekends in the past.

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Speaker 1: It is good news. I mean, that was something that

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Speaker 1: you and I had spoken about last week is we

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Speaker 1: had both you know, urged people to please take care

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Speaker 1: on the roads. It seems as though they've actually, you know,

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Speaker 1: done just that and tried their best to respect each

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Speaker 1: other and do the right thing on the road. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's the feedback we had throughout the territory.

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Speaker 2: You know, Look, and credit to the community because it

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Speaker 2: really is their work on top of you know, our

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Speaker 2: teams work as well, but without their involvement and having

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Speaker 2: that positive attitude on our roads, we wouldn't have achieved

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Speaker 2: those results. So look, I think we had over that

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Speaker 2: long weekend. We only had one high range drink driver,

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Speaker 2: which you know, still we don't want that one high

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Speaker 2: range drink driver, but you know, compared to things in

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Speaker 2: the past, yeah, that's definitely a much better result.

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Speaker 1: So talk me through how many RBTs were set up,

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Speaker 1: you know what exactly what proactive stuff was done.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so I sort of alluded to it when we

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Speaker 2: spoke last week. But our primary focus for this long

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Speaker 2: weekend was out in the rural area where we do

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Speaker 2: see a lot of our road trauma, and just knowing

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Speaker 2: the territory and how people like to get away as

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Speaker 2: soon as the weather changes, that's where we focused on.

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Speaker 2: So out in the rural area, they and throughout Alice

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Speaker 2: Springs with the same focus, sixty fifty six random breath

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Speaker 2: testing stations set up, which is a remarkable effort. And

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Speaker 2: you've got to appreciate some of the weather that the

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Speaker 2: teams have to deal with out there standing on the

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Speaker 2: side of hot road. So that's a really good effort.

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Speaker 2: And as a result, over five thousand people breath tested

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Speaker 2: for alcohol. Wow, and one hundred and thirty one drug

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Speaker 2: tests conducted. So that was a lot of engagements with

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Speaker 2: the public and getting that message out there.

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Speaker 1: Yeh, it certainly is. I mean more than five thousand people,

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Speaker 1: that's a huge number. Were they Like, what were the

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Speaker 1: numbers like in terms of I know, you said on

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Speaker 1: the one high range strength driving, how'd you go with

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Speaker 1: some of the other, you know, the other things that

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Speaker 1: you obviously are checking people for.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yep. So all up, there was sixty six people

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Speaker 2: that were positive for either drugs or alcohol on our road.

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Speaker 2: So that's it's still too many. But what the appreciative

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Speaker 2: thing is in these circumstances, that's sixty six occasions where

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Speaker 2: we're intervened and got those high risk drivers off our roads.

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Speaker 2: So look, I've got no doubt you know, without that

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Speaker 2: proactive work from those teams, some of those incidents would

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Speaker 2: have turned into crashes or potentially fatalities. So that was

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Speaker 2: really good work to intervene. Probably the biggest things that

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Speaker 2: we saw over the weekend was still a lot of

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Speaker 2: people speeding, which we continue to combat, and our guys

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Speaker 2: pulled over four hundred and close to five hundred cars wow,

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Speaker 2: just through random apprehensions for either speeding or just random

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Speaker 2: for breath testing and that. So yeah, ultimately the majority

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Speaker 2: of people were doing the right thing and enjoying their

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Speaker 2: weekend responsibly, but there was still some disappointing choices made,

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Speaker 2: but we had our team on hand to deal with that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and one of the other things I know,

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Speaker 1: in addition to all of those random breath testing stations

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Speaker 1: and all of the proactive work that you've done, well,

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Speaker 1: you were also in a situation where you were, well

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Speaker 1: you're involved in apprehending these stolen vehicles. Talk me through

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Speaker 1: what had happened.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. The teams that are a remarkable job

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Speaker 2: with that one. So on the early hours of Sunday morning,

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Speaker 2: there was three stolen motor vehicles heading south down towards Adelaide,

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Speaker 2: River and they were joined by another three stolen motor vehicles.

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Speaker 2: We assume they're working together, but we actually had our

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Speaker 2: teams out doing some really good proactive work. So unbeknowns

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Speaker 2: to our offenders, there was teams set up involving the

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Speaker 2: Road Policing Team, the Dog Operations Unit, the drug squad

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Speaker 2: and the local local police as well. So they were

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Speaker 2: able to apprehend five of those six stolen vehicles using

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Speaker 2: the tiderflation devices. A number of offenders fled and they

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Speaker 2: apprehended a few, they've identified another. There's still a few outstanding,

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Speaker 2: but they know who they are and they're actively catching

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Speaker 2: up with those. So it was just a really good

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Speaker 2: collaborative effort from all those specialist teams.

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Speaker 1: How'd you be have being in a stolen car and

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Speaker 1: then approaching and thinking, oh police are already here. What

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Speaker 1: where exactly were you? I mean, I laugh. It's actually

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Speaker 1: a bloody dangerous situation, but I just think, good job

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Speaker 1: that they got caught. Where exactly were you? And how

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Speaker 1: did it kind of unfold?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So the teams were down in Adelaide River Township

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Speaker 2: doing some proactive work which we often do down in

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Speaker 2: that area. Yeah, So in that Vicinity and then once

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Speaker 2: they become aware of those stolen vehicles, there was a

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Speaker 2: coordinated response. We have special methodology and how we use

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Speaker 2: our tiderflation devices. I won't go into that too much,

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Speaker 2: but yeah, they were able to identify those key areas

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Speaker 2: and really good execution by them. And then following that up,

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Speaker 2: the remote police down in Adelaide, River and Bachelor do

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Speaker 2: a remarkable job. They've got great community connections and as

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Speaker 2: a result of that, they were able to go around

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Speaker 2: and identify who the offenders were. And yeah, like I said,

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Speaker 2: they're being apprehended.

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Speaker 1: Yep. Now yeah, yeah, and so five of those six

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Speaker 1: stolen cars, one of them still outstanding, is that right?

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Speaker 2: So yeah, commenced, but that was terminated just due to

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Speaker 2: the dangerousness. And then further investigations happened and yep, that

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Speaker 2: was recovered as well.

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Speaker 1: Stage do we know I'm not sure whether you know

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Speaker 1: obviously you're in charge of the road policing, but do

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Speaker 1: we know whether they've all been arrested or what the

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Speaker 1: situation is with those offenders that.

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Speaker 2: So Struck Force Trident's got the lead on that investigation.

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Speaker 2: They are property crime team. So a number of the

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Speaker 2: offenders have been arrested. A lot of the others have

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Speaker 2: been identified, but there is still a few outstanding. So

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Speaker 2: if anyone's got any information in relation to that, would

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Speaker 2: love them to contact us via crime stoppers.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely get in contact with the Northern Territory Police

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Speaker 1: or crime Stoppers. Just lastly, I know that I will.

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Speaker 1: In addition to all of the work that the traffic

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Speaker 1: police or the road operations have done over the weekend,

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Speaker 1: there was another There was also I believe a bit

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Speaker 1: of targeting of the transportation of dangerous drugs and weapons

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Speaker 1: and other illegal items. How did that go?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so that was that other operation that was happening

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Speaker 2: down in Adelaide River. So that was what that team was

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Speaker 2: doing down there, and that's something that people could expect

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Speaker 2: to see throughout the rest.

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Speaker 1: They actually apprehended five dangerous cars by the sounds of it.

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Speaker 1: What else did they find? What else did they get? Yeah?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, they had some really good results. A media

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Speaker 2: release came out in relation to that yesterday, which goes

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Speaker 2: into detail on the police website, so people can go

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Speaker 2: in and have a look at that. But yeah, like

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Speaker 2: I said, those proactive operations can really happen when we

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Speaker 2: can be proactive and the community do the right thing,

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Speaker 2: allowing us to focus our resources on some of those

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Speaker 2: sort of areas, and.

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Speaker 1: It is a really good thing. I mean, I think

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Speaker 1: that that's what the public want to see as well.

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Speaker 1: They like to see the police out there proactively policing.

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Speaker 1: I know you might not like it if you get

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Speaker 1: yourself a speeding fine, but it is really good to

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Speaker 1: see the police out there able to do that. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And look, that's the reality of it is because like,

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Speaker 2: for example, the results we had over this weekend where

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Speaker 2: we didn't have those serious crashes or fatalities. You know,

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Speaker 2: those incidents take up a lot of resources. So when

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Speaker 2: we can avoid those incidents and be proactive, we are

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Speaker 2: able to focus on a lot of those key areas.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely well, Superintendent of Road Policing, Rick mcgrae. Lovely

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Speaker 1: to speak to you this morning. Really appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much for joining.

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Speaker 2: Us, Thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: Thank you