St Kilda celebrated one of its biggest events of the year yesterday with most people safely enjoying themselves at the iconic St Kilda Festival.
Superintendent Tony Silva said the annual event attracted over 400,000 people and police were generally pleased with the behaviour of the vast majority of attendees.
“Despite the majority of people doing the right thing, police still detected a small number of offences throughout the event including a number of driving and drug-related offences,” said Supt Silva.
“We make no apologies for holding these people to account as we were at the festival to ensure the hundreds of thousands of people flocking to St Kilda could enjoy the live music, food and street stalls in a safe manner.”
On Sunday, 460 people were searched as part of an Omni operation which is a planned weapons search within a designated area.
As part of the Omni searches, police detected the following:
• Nine people were cautioned or given a diversion for drug possession
• One man received a penalty notice for possessing a controlled weapon
• One man who was wanted on a warrant was arrested and remanded
Outside of the Omni searches, police detected the following:
• Two people were arrested for drug offences
• One person was given a penalty notice for offensive behaviour
• One man was arrested for assaulting police and being drunk in a public place. He has been remanded to appear at court at a later date.
• One person was arrested for hindering police
• One person was arrested for assault-related offences
• Seven people were given a penalty notice for being drunk in a public place
Highway Patrol units detected:
• One drink driver
• Six speeding offences
• Two seatbelt offences
• Three unregistered vehicles
• Three defect notices
• One mobile phone offence
• Three helmet offences
• Eight other traffic offences
Local police were supported by officers from the Mounted Branch, Critical Incident Response Team, Transit Safety Division, Highway Patrol and Operations Response Unit.
