Police have arrested a man after a car crashed into a bollard in Patterson Lakes this morning.
As part of Operation Trinity, officers were on patrol along Gladesville Road when they responded to a car suspiciously loitering about 12.20am.
Officers approached the vehicle and located a man fast asleep at the wheel of the blue Toyota Prado.
As the officers began to speak to the man, he suddenly drove off before coming to a stop approximately 500m up the road.
Officers approached the Prado a second time and found the man had once again fallen asleep at the wheel.
He woke up for a second time and when he was directed to exit the vehicle, allegedly attempted to flee.
He was unsuccessful and was arrested at the scene.
The vehicle was searched, with police locating and seizing an amount of drugs and approximately $10,000 from inside.
The man allegedly refused to undergo a preliminary drug test at the scene and was taken to be interviewed.
Allegedly, the Prado stolen from Highett on 23 July and was bearing false plates at the time of the 30-year-old Frankston man's arrest.
He has since been charged with:
- unlicenced driving
- careless driving
- theft of motor vehicle
- drive vehicle with false plates
- possess methylamphetamine
- traffick methylamphetamine
- possess 1,4 butanediol
- deal with proceeds of crime
- refuse to undergo drug impairment assessment.
The man was remanded to appear before Melbourne Magistrates' Court today.
Operation Trinity is solely dedicated to preventing and responding to burglaries and car thefts - running from dusk to dawn across Melbourne each night.
This operation sees uniform police supported by a range of specialist units, including the Dog Squad, Public Order Response and Air Wing.
In the past year, Operation Trinity led to the arrest of 523 burglars and car thieves a combined 1,098 times.
That equates to three burglars and car thieves arrested every single day.
While arrests remain high, the primary aim of Operation Trinity is to prevent people having their homes broken into in the first place.
To achieve this, Trinity units conduct a range of disruption activities, including saturating suburbs based on intelligence, intercepting thousands of vehicles each month, and nightly patrols around the homes of Victoria's most prolific burglars and youth gang members.
These offenders are largely opportunistic by nature - seeking easy access points through unlocked doors and windows.
As such, police implore the community to take simple steps such as locking all doors and windows on your home and car.
