UPDATE: Senior Sergeant Ian Brooks said an infrared camera mounted beneath the helicopter made it easy to track vehicles in wet and cloudy conditions during Bendigo Highway Patrols operation.
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He the collaboration between ground units and the helicopter made it possible to target specific people and intercept them.
"What we do is have police cars on the ground to get in behind (an offending vehicle). The ground cars call the helicopter, who can pivot the camera on a gimble to the area.
"As soon as the helicopter camera zooms in on the two cars, they advise police to intercept. If they do, it's all good. If the (offender's) car decides it doesn't want to stop, we get what details we can on ground and back out the way."
Senior Sergeant Brooks said police cars are placed strategically while the helicopter monitors the offending vehicle so units can funnel criminals to a more remote area to intercept them using things like tyre deflation device.
"If we can get them out of town, it limits the chance of impacting the general public. Then we can use the tyre-deflating device (or stop sticks), which we did successfully (over the weekend)," Senior Sergeant Brooks said.
"We place police cars at intersections to cause them to go out of town where we are able to deploy stop sticks in a safe manner.
"In all cases, the high risk driving lessened as we got out of the way. (Offending drivers) slowed down."
Bendigo Highway Patrol conducted research into previous operations in other parts of Victoria in an effort to get the best results they could at the weekend.
"We are very conscious that we don't want to chase a speeding car, so we put (a helicopter) over them and are pre-positioned (on the ground) to a point where we are able corral them in to area we want," Senior Sergeant Brooks said.
"We're not going to chase people unless it is something very, very serious. We will get all details, start an investigation, use our intelligence resources and may visit the (offender) two weeks later with search warrant.
"We have pursuit policy that asks us to risk assess everything. There are still pursuits initiated but our method we use far safer.
"It does require a helicopter but (the reason) why we did that effort is there was a criminal element in Bendigo who are deliberately putting innocent people at risk to achieve their goals."
Senior Sergeant Brooks was not able to comment on any reported gunshots that people say they heard at the weekend.
"There were no gunshots or firearms deployed by police or anybody (involved in our operation)," he said. "It wasn't the (stop sticks), the only thing you hear from them is a hiss of air and we were nowhere near houses when they were deployed)."
EARLIER: A VICTORIA Police operation in Bendigo at the weekend was deemed necessary due to the number of people who regularly engage in high-risk driving.
Bendigo Highway Patrol Senior Sergeant Ian Brooks said the operation - which included a helicopter and dog squad along with highway patrol units - nabbed a number of people who the police consider dangerous.
"We were targeting people who intentionally drive at high speeds to evade police and who are putting other people's lives at risk," he said.
"One person had been on the run for a period of time and was wanted by several parts of the organisation including the family violence command.
"We didn't know he was in town, he was randomly targeted because he was driving in a funny manner. We went to get him and he took off."
Senior Sergeant Brooks said the operation came at no extra cost.
"From a financial point of view, the helicopter would have been flying anyway, all the police would be working anyway," he said.
"We're funded to fly the helicopter a number of times each year. If the helicopter wasn't over Bendigo it would have been in Ballarat, Mildura, Shepparton or Melbourne.
"I think the victim of family violence is more comfortable with that person off the street. We got a large quantity of ice off the road."
Senior Sergeant Brooks said the operation was not about "revenue-raising".
"The Bendigo Highway Patrol isn't focused on (revenue-raising)," he said.
"We're not judged on the tickets we issue. We're judged on how many people don't die on our roads.
"I become irate when we are accused of revenue-raising. We don't force people to to drive away from police or go past speed camera in excess of the speed limit. People choose to do that.
"If you're picked up doing something wrong, it's not revenue-raising, you're breaking the law."
Senior Sergeant Brooks said on a perfect, clear night the helicopter used in the operation wouldn't have been seen or head by Bendigo residents.
"For the law-abiding people of Bendigo, I do have an apology," he said.
"The helicopter made a lot of noise but it stayed in the parameters of its flight profile.
"I won't apologise for the operation. It was deemed necessary for the number of people who are engaging in high risk driving, forcing people of the roads, ramming police cars and forcing them from the road.
"They need to be stopped."
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