Drug busts and burglaries keep Geraldton police busy as majority of people are well-behaved

With Shore Leave keeping entertainment flowing over the weekend, it also kept Geraldton police busy as they hiked up their presence around town cracking down on burglaries, drugs and alcohol. But police said the majority of people did the right thing. However, a raid at a home in Walkaway resulted in the seizure of a small quantity of cannabis plants. Geraldton Police officer-in-charge Sen. Sgt Chris Martin said the home on Hamersley Road contained a small number of cannabis plants grown for personal use and were seized. A 56-year-old man was arrested and charged with cultivating cannabis and released on bail to face court at a later date. Sen. Sgt Martin said in vehicle stops conducted over the weekend, a total of five drivers were found to be possessing prohibited drugs. “There were smaller quantities of methamphetamine, and largely smaller quantities of cannabis for personal use,” he said. Police had a busier weekend than usual and despite conducting about 2400 drug and alcohol tests, Sen. Sgt Martin said police saw the community mainly well-behaved. “Police set up a random breath test (operation) on Brand Highway and out of 2000 alcohol tests only one member of the community came back with a blood alcohol content over 0.05,” he said. “We conducted 100 drug tests and none were found to be positive. “Conducting over 2400 tests and only one person was found to be drink-driving, it was really heartening for police to see people doing the right thing. “The community were happy to comply with the drug and alcohol tests.” Police said there were a total of 10 burglary offences which occurred from Friday through to early hours of Monday morning resulting in the arrests of six juveniles for six offences. There were another eight stealing offences on top of the burglaries. Sen. Sgt Martin said the six juveniles who were arrested were responsible for the majority of the incidents.