Here is a summary of the latest police news on the Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island.

Report suspicious behaviour to police

Hills Fleurieu Police want to encourage the public to share any information about suspicious activity near fire grounds directly with police, rather than on social media.

While police understand people want to use social media to raise awareness in the community of suspicious persons or vehicles in or around fire grounds in the Adelaide Hills or on Kangaroo Island, very little of this information is being passed on to police.

Police strongly encourage the reporting of any suspicious activity, persons or vehicles, day or night, via the police assistance line on 131 444.  In an emergency, ring Triple Zero.

Police continue to follow leads in relation to thefts from properties affected by the Cudlee Creek and Kangaroo Island fires, but can only act on information reported to them.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of any stolen property is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online. 

Police target regional areas in month-long drink driving operation

Last Thursday 6 February South Australia Police launched Operation High Impact F5 (Fatal Five), an intensive traffic enforcement operation running for four weeks.

The operation will focus on preventing drink and drug driving in regional areas through driver education and the enforcement of road safety legislation.

During High Impact F5, there will be large scale driver testing, licence and vehicle standards checks, and large scale road policing deployments.

As a regular operation, High Impact F5 last ran from November to December 2019 after it was pushed forward to address the horror year on our roads. 

Superintendent Bob Gray, Officer in Charge of the Traffic Services Branch, believes it’s important for police to target regional areas.

“Motorists in regional areas seem to feel that the risk of getting caught drink driving is low because in smaller areas, there might not be a big police presence,” he says.

“Drivers in these areas also have a short drive home, or are only taking backstreets, so it might seem excusable to them.

“But the point of this operation is to change that mentality by emphasising the fact that there is no excuse for drink driving.

“We hope to see a change in behaviour as a result of this month-long operation.”

Operation High Impact F5 began at 12.01am, Thursday 6 February, and will end at 11.59pm on Saturday 7 March.

You can learn more about the Fatal Five online.