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Policing is nothing to snort at – unless you are Geoff the Pig.
The porcine figurine, a policing mascot touring law enforcement facilities in Australia, visited Bendigo on Thursday to feature in filming for Channel 7 reality show Highway Patrol.
His visit to the central Victorian city comes after pit stops in Uluru, Canberra and Tasmania.
A camera crew from Highway Patrol has been trailing police officers Sergeant Mick McCrann and Senior Constable Anthony Johnson since Monday, and will continue to snare footage of Bendigonian drivers behaving badly until the early hours of Sunday morning.
It did not take long for the camera crews to capture someone committing a traffic offence on Thursday.
Highway Patrol officers attended to reports of hoon driving in Bright Street in California Gully at 9am.
Police intercepted an unaccompanied L-plate driver who had taken his grandmother’s car to visit his girlfriend, Senior Constable Johnson said.
The 18-year-old will be issued with several infringement notices, including fines for not displaying his L-plates and not being in control of his vehicle.
The fines will total about $1000, the officer said.
A car stolen two weeks ago was located in the Bendigo Health car park after its thief stopped to visit a patient at the hospital.
The policemen and their accompanying camera crew also apprehended another driver wanted in relation to several outstanding warrants on their patrol.
The driver had failed to attend a court date on June 2.
Senior Constable Johnson said he expected camera crews would be on scene for drunk and drug-affected driving offences this weekend.
The end of the week was also a peak time for hoon driving, he said, although he explained dangerous driving was a “daily occurrence” in Bendigo.
He said hooning was difficult to police because drivers had often moved on before officers arrived at the scene, and asked the public to record car registration numbers so reports could be followed up.
The weekend shoot will cap off a week of production that started on Tuesday when Sergeant McCrann pulled over a South Australian driver resting a large fishing knife between his legs.
The wet mid-week weather meant film crews attended several minor road accidents too.
Sergeant McCrann asked Bendigo residents to watch out for updates about the Highway Patrol program on the Eyewatch – Bendigo Police Area Facebook page on Friday. Pork fans can also follow Geoff the Pig’s movements on social media.