Hunt for ‘serial pest’ smashing up mobile speed camera cars

Police in Australia are hunting for a “serial pest” who has smashed windows and slashed the tyres of a mobile speed camera car.

Officers say cameras in the Parkdale area, in Victoria, have been interfered with over the past 14 months and believe the same person is responsible.

During the latest incident on 22 June, the camera operator was inside the car at the time of the attack but was able to drive away without injury.

The attack happened at around 9pm and the vehicle - which is owned and operated by the Australian Department of Justice - was parked on the side of the Bellarine Highway.

The unidentified offender approached the stationary vehicle before smashing the windows of the car and slashing all four tyres.

Community and public sector union Julian Kennelly told Australian newspaper the Herald Sun that an operator was followed prior to the attack.

He said: “He [the operator] was in the process of shifting locations … and a vehicle followed him down the road for five or 10 minutes.

“He pulled over … and then both [the people in the other vehicle] jumped out of the vehicle and ran towards his vehicle launching pieces of wood at the camera’s car. Quite frightening.”

Mr Kennelly said that a “serial pest” in the Parkdale area had been interfering with operators for the past 14 months. These include a number of attacks on Victorian traffic camera vehicles and operators.

On 13 June a mobile speed camera, parked in the suburb of Wollert, 26km north of Melbourne, was hit multiple times by a driver in a four-wheel-drive.

The camera operator was inside the vehicle at the time of the attack but was uninjured.

Meanwhile on 26 April, another camera operator was inside her car in St Leonards, just south of Melbourne, when a masked man holding a metal pole smashed her vehicle’s side mirrors.

Police are urging anyone with information on the attack to come forward.