SQUELCHY leather clad policemen with extendable truncheons have responded to the rise in serious assaults occurring on public transport and Melbourne’s streets by declaring war – on tinted windows. Victoria Police claim that a number of road collisions have involved vehicles with windows so dark that the driver’s view has been obscured. Precisely what that number is wasn’t revealed by police, but is thought to be close to the number of crashes caused by untethered armadillos wandering on freeways.
Police are cautiously optimistic that taking a hard line against motorists with tinted windows will cause the number of serious assaults committed by pedestrians to fall sharply. Leading Senior Constable Steve Hillman claims they’re not drawing a long bow either, citing the success of New York City Mayor Rudi Giuliani’s “Broken Windows” approach to petty crime.
“Take your average glasser on the street, about to carve up some poor bloke’s face with a schooner,” drawled Constable Hillman in his police issue monotone. “They see a cop booking someone for having tinted windows, they’re gonna stop and think, geez, if these blokes are that serious about tinted glass, what are they going to do if they see me put glass in some bloke’s face?”
Operation: Tinted Windows Are Illegal has been described by civil libertarians as “one of the most unimaginative titles for a police operation ever”.
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