It’s a miracle they didn’t kill themselves or someone else. The first involved a 38-year-old male from Grong Grong driving a Ford Festiva who failed to stop for police at Pejar.

Police caught up with him and arrested him at Carrick. He’s since been refused bail. We allege he was wanted on several warrants and involved in several traffic-related incidents and pursuits in Narranderra, Wagga Wagga, Cowra and Griffith. It’s fair to say the community is a safer place without this bloke in it.

The other one was a young man flying down the Hume Highway in a black Maloo ute. I’ve seen footage of this car on the highway – let me assure you he had all eight cylinders pumping hard. It is a miracle the driver and passenger are still alive today after their efforts on the highway.

After he left our command the driver carjacked other cars and involved himself in serious crime. Great police work saw the driver and passenger caught and the community is again a far safer place with both behind bars - for the next few weeks, anyway.

We also had a young Moss Vale bloke tell police he was bashed by three men after Moss Vale Show. He’s since admitted it was purely misadventure that caused him to end up in hospital, and we’ll speak to him more when he’s out. This story caused quite a stir in the Southern Highlands, scaring people into thinking it’s too dangerous to be out at night.

Crime statistics in the last few years show an increase in convictions related to alcohol-related crime in the Highlands on weekends. This is solely due to our focus on consequence-based policing and patrolling licensed premises. It proves if you are not responsible on the drink there will be consequences, especially in our command.

Our locals should be confident that if anyone steps out of line and behaves unacceptably on the drink, police will do something about it.