{"id":59538,"date":"2014-03-07T22:26:25","date_gmt":"2014-03-07T12:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=59538"},"modified":"2022-12-17T17:15:33","modified_gmt":"2022-12-17T07:15:33","slug":"police-aim-to-dispel-bike-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/03\/07\/police-aim-to-dispel-bike-fears\/","title":{"rendered":"Police Aim To Dispel Bike Fears"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Detective Inspector David Austin … “social motorcycle groups have nothing to fear from the legislation”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Wearing insignia from groups not specified in the legislation is not illegal in licensed premises<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March 7, 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

Concerns by local recreational motorbike riders that they could be swept up in the State Government’s crackdown on criminal motorcycle gangs has prompted a visit to the South Burnett by a senior police official.<\/p>\n

Detective Inspector David Austin, from the South West District Southern Region, will meet with members of various local bike and social clubs at 9:30am tomorrow (Saturday) at an open forum at the Kingaroy Hotel.<\/p>\n

Det Insp Austin touched base this afternoon at Kingaroy Police Station with representatives from the Burnett Branch of the Ulysses Club and the Harley Owners Group ahead of tomorrow’s forum.<\/p>\n

He said there was confusion and a number of misconceptions in the motorcycle community about the legislation which he hoped to dispel.<\/p>\n

Det Insp Austin said the hospitality industry had also been “missing out on business” because legitimate motorcycle groups had been unnecessarily cancelling rides.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He said he was happy to try to clarify the legislation to local riders.<\/p>\n

However, his role was not to justify it … “my role as a police officer is to enforce it”, he said.<\/p>\n

Det Insp Austin\u00a0urged the local social clubs – on a voluntary basis – to\u00a0register with police any of their rides which would have more than 12 participants.<\/p>\n

This was no\u00a0guarantee riders would not be stopped for ID checks, but this was just normal operational policing at the discretion of individual officers.<\/p>\n

Det Insp Austin\u00a0confirmed he had spoken on a previous occasion to members of the local Rebels MC – one of the declared groups – but would not go into details. He said\u00a0local Rebels members were aware they were being monitored.<\/p>\n