The Albury officer of 30 years says in the early 1990s his former colleague Sen-Sgt Michael White initiated the now national Operation RAID after seeing a similar operation on a trip to America.

Sgt Seidel said his retired colleague worked with former Wodonga Sen-Sgt Paul Burgoyne to get the cross-border crackdown off the ground and the first operation was conducted in 1994.

“It was not long after random breath-testing started. We thought it would be a good thing if we had an operation like this to make people in the Border area more aware,” Sgt Seidel said.

“It’s a co-operation thing; being on the state border with another police force across the river, our goals are the same, really.

“We enjoy working together because ultimately we’ve got the same aim — it’s good for morale and it’s good for the relations as well.”

Sgt Seidel, of Albury’s highway patrol, estimated 30,000 to 40,000 breath tests were conducted in the first operation.

This year police across the country are aiming for 1 million.

“It makes you proud; it’s an achievement and so many other agencies have taken it on board. Obviously it was a good idea but it’s all in the name of trying to save lives,” Sgt Seidel said.

“We used to get a fair few positive tests in those days, probably a lot more with the ratio of people tested to what we’re getting now.

“Hopefully the message is getting through a little bit.”

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Ken Lay congratulated Albury and Wodonga police for leading the way with the cross-border project.

“The people in the North East of Victoria have a very strong history of good commitment to road policing initiatives, they work very, very hard to save people’s lives,” he said.