At 2.40pm I attended A1 Fruit and Vegetable market in Glenorchy ( a Hobart suburb) to buy vegetables as I often do. Today I was riding my motor scooter with another rider.

On arriving at A1 I noticed three cars in an accident, Hyundai Getz silver, a Suzuki Vitara maroon, and Ford Falcon silver. I spoke to the lady who owns the Suzuki to enquire if she was ok and she told me what happened. She said she was just out of the car when she heard the scream of the car and a bang, she was clearly upset and said that she wished she hadn’t come here now. I agreed and said it could have been much worse.

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The very elderly lady in the Getz had allegedly accelerated forward, at a good speed it appeared, colliding with the ladies stationary Suzuki. Approximately four members of the public approached me and asked what was going on and commented about the elderly lady, who took over 20 minutes to be assisted from the Getz, and looked quite frail. Comments were made in relation to elderly people and driving tests and how do they pass.

The Police arrived at A1 at around 2.50pm in a blue Police car, with two officers a male and a female. They spoke to the driver and the lady and another man who had his Ford damaged.

As I was packing my vegetable into my scooter I said to the lady who owns the Suzuki ‘gosh you were lucky you weren’t standing next to the car’, she nodded, I then said ‘was lucky it wasn’t me on this (scooter)...could have been killed’, she nodded again and said ‘yes that’s right’, I further said ‘’trouble is, if it was your 18 year old son, he would get charged for this and they say "hoons", but often when there old people nothing much happens, I guess that’s the way it works’. The lady nodded again.

The young Constable whom I did notice standing near the car belonging to the elderly lady, then moved toward me and said in a "tone", ‘have you got a problem there mate’. I said ’ well yes I do, I have issues with some elderly people not being safe drivers and if that was me there on my bike’. The Constable then said to me aggressively, ‘you keep your opinions to yourself mate’, he muttered something further as he looked me up and down and I did not hear him, however was offended and said ‘I suggest you mind your manners please’. The Constable then said ‘are you leaving now are you mate’, I said ‘yes’, the Constable then said ‘well don’t you come back to this area for 4 hours’. I then asked for his name. and left Glenorchy. 

Being asked to leave the area for 4 hours is both wrong, and extremely offensive to me. I was not, did not, nor was about to commit any offence whatsoever. By me simple speaking with a member of the public voicing my beliefs or opinion, is not just cause for any Australian Police service member to demand a person leave the area for four hours, it is outrageous. In saying this, had I have been rowdy, intoxicated or screaming at someone then I could understand. 

Any civil servant should not speak rudely or harshly to a citizen, if the officer is unable to cope with overhearing conversations or personally disagreeing with a citizens opinions, and is so quickly agitated then he does not have the correct temperament for his job as a civil servant, or Police officer. I believe he discriminated against me as a road user as I was clearly a motor cyclist, the demographic position where the incident occurred and me wearing motorcycle apparel.

I refer to the Tasmania Police website.

The organisation aims to deliver an efficient and effective service to the community through:

Integrity

We act honestly and ethically and exercise authority responsibly. We persevere because we are committed and professional. We are visible advocates of the quality of our service.

Equity 

We are fair and objective. We have empathy for victims and vulnerable groups and look for opportunities to empower. We are open-minded but consistent in our engagement with each other and the community.

Accountability 

We accept responsibility for ourselves and are answerable for our actions. We seek to continuously improve whilst responsibly managing risk.

Rodney Richards
Goulburn Street
Hobart

15B. Dispersal of persons 
(1) A police officer may direct a person in a public place to leave that place and not return for a specified period of not less than 4 hours if the police officer believes on reasonable grounds that the person – 
(a) has committed or is likely to commit an offence; or
(b) is obstructing or is likely to obstruct the movement of pedestrians or vehicles; or
(c) is endangering or likely to endanger the safety of any other person; or
(d) has committed or is likely to commit a breach of the peace.
(2) A person must comply with a direction under subsection (1).