Waikato Police urge young people to think about how they are drinking

Posted by on 11/05/2011

With the latest phase of a trans-Tasman Police operation focusing on alcohol related offending and harm about to commence, the Waikato's Police Commander urged people to familiarise themselves with local liquor ban locations & to know their limits.

Superintendent Win Van Der Velde said the focus of Operation Unite, which runs over this Friday and Saturday, was to reduce alcohol-related offending and victimisation.

"We want people to drink to enjoy, not to intoxication and have a night to remember not one to regret. While out on the beat during the recent V8s I was disappointed to see the number of people heading into town carrying alcohol, claiming ignorance of the city wide liquor ban.

"It's pretty simple. There's a 24/ 7 ban in the CBD and out on Te Rapa Rd, and 10pm to 6am there is a city-wide liquor ban in force covering all public places."

Mr Van Der Velde said by breaching these bans people risked arrest and fines of up to $500.

"A little bit of awareness and personal responsibility will go a long way to avoiding a potential criminal record."

Police are very concerned at the increasing levels of intoxication of people in their late teens, especially young women, they are having to deal with not only in Hamilton and the rest of New Zealand but in Australia, hence the trans-Tasman nature of the operation.

"Officers aren't just out there arresting drunken people who commit offences. My staff continue to express grave concerns of some of the behaviour exhibited by young women in the central city most Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

"Some are so grossly intoxicated that they are placing themselves at a significantly higher risk of being victimised. Not to mention the associated costs to their health and wellbeing."

Nationally Police are using the weekend as an opportunity to highlight to youth the risk of injury, assault and violence associated with excessive alcohol consumption.

"Even though over 80 per cent of young people are regular drinkers they don't seem to realise that they, or their mates, are likely to be a victim of alcohol misuse."

A recurring and coordinated Australasian Police initiative, Op Unite has been in effect since 2009, targeting alcohol related offending and harm within the two countries.

It reiterates the global awareness of the social harms caused by excess alcohol consumption. The aim of Op Unite is to change Australia and New Zealand’s culture of binge drinking in public places and challenge the drinking public to take greater responsibility for their conduct.

During the last Op Unite in December last year Waikato Police conducted more than three and half thousand driver breath tests, visited 100 licensed premises and made arrests for a range of offences including drink driving, disorder, violence and breaching liquor bans.

"There are some estimates that more than 70 per cent of all weekend offending and victimisation can be directly attributed to alcohol consumption," said Mr Van Der Velde.

"Half of all anti-social offences, a third of all violence and a quarter of all traffic offences are also as a result of alcohol consumption. Nearly 20 per cent of the annual Police budget is taken up responding to incidents that have occurred because of the involvement of alcohol."

Addressing our drinking culture, Superintendent Van Der Velde believes, would lead to significant demand reduction on police and health services, reduced levels of harm and improved community safety.