By JUSTIN JENVEY
POLICE are cracking down on drug activity in the Alpine Shire. 
Bright police arrested and charged two local males with offences including drug possession and drug trafficking on the Friday before the Labour Day long weekend.
Alpine Cluster Acting Senior Sergeant, Romina McEwan, said police identified and arrested the two youths at the Bright Skate Park at about 3.40pm on March 5.
“There were school kids in school uniforms down there and these two youths who were noticeably drug affected, were caught with a drug of dependence being cannabis,” she said.
“As a result, we seized mobile phones and will extract information from those which will help give us gain a bigger picture, so investigations are continuing there.”
While police identified the two youths on this occasion, Act Snr Sgt McEwan said the community can also play a role in alerting police to suspicious activity. 
“The message we’re trying to get across is if you see something or hear something then say something,” she said. 
“We can’t do anything about it if we don’t know anything about it.
“More CCTV in some places around Bright would certainly be helpful and that’s a conversation we might need to have with Alpine Shire Council.”
It wasn’t the only drug offences police identified over the long weekend with Myrtleford police obtaining two positive roadside drug tests.  
Both drivers tested positive to methamphetamine in the Buffalo River area.
A Myrtleford woman aged in her 40s returned a positive test on Saturday, March 6 with a 20-year-old male from Porepunkah testing positive Monday evening on March 8. 
Both were first-time offenders and will have their driver’s licence suspended for six months. 
Act Snr Sgt McEwan said police are catching more people driving under the influence of drugs.
“It’s becoming more common, we’re increasing the number of officers that can conduct tests so the public need to understand that a drug test can happen as randomly as a breath test,” she said. 
“Driving under the influence of any substance is a serious offence and with drugs staying in your system a lot longer than alcohol it increases our chances of catching you.”