News November 30 2006

Sydney police get GT

(but not for what you think!)

Alfa Australia distributor Ateco Automotive has donated an Alfa GT to Sydney police to help with their young driver training program aimed at helping young people become better drivers.

"Learning how to drive doesn't stop once a young person has passed their test," explains Senior Constable Greg Brown, the Youth Liaison Officer at the Fairfield Local Area Command. "And that's where the Alfa Romeo GT comes in. Fully dressed up as a police car, it obviously catches the attention of young people even more than a normal Alfa Romeo and provides a talking point from which we can not just talking about road safety, but also get new drivers to attend driver training sessions."

Held as a series of two hour evening sessions over a four week period, Greg covers areas such as local accident black spots, how to correctly judge risk and danger behind the wheel, understanding each drivers personal skill limits, sharing the road, basic first aid and what happens in a real road accident.

"Despite its police livery and flashing lights, we don't use the Alfa Romeo for normal police work," says Greg. "But, by providing additional transport for our police force, we not only have a training tool that helps us communicate with young people, it also frees up normal police cars to be out on the road, so Alfa Romeo is not just helping save young lives, it also helping save money and fight crime!"

The provision of the GT for the Fairfield Local Area Command is the latest in a series of cars provided by Alfa and its Australian importer, Ateco Automotive, to police forces to help fight crime and save lives (see previous ItalianCar item).

"We are delighted to be able to assist Australian police forces with the provision of cars for their road safety and crime prevention work," says David Stone, General Manager for Alfa Romeo in Australia. "We see this as practical and highly cost effective way that we can play our role in a safer community for everyone. Our cars assist the police in making contact with a wide range of people so they can discuss and offer help with road safety and crime prevention, as well as providing the practical assistance of transport. We believe that this is a very positive role that we can play in the community."