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Police officers specifically trained in the responsible service of alcohol will have a presence in clubs and bars on and around Oxford Street to target alcohol-related crime.
The three-month initiative was launched this week after Surry Hills Local Area Command (LAC) held a forum with owners of licensed premises in the area.
“We’ve moved a number of police into our Surry Hills Alcohol Regulatory and Compliance Squad (SHARCS) who are getting specific training on all aspects of the licensing and security industry and they’ll be out and proactively targeting the responsible service and consumption of alcohol,” Surry Hills Local Area Commander Donna Adney told SX.
“Essentially I’m asking [licensed premises] to turn the tap off when a person is obviously exhibiting behaviour that shows they are affected by alcohol.”
The initiative will see eight or nine uniformed officers patrol straight and gay venues in the area and taking action depending on the level of offence.
“Police will check the normal things required under the Liquor Act, so they’ll look at crowd numbers, security numbers and general staffing,” Adney explained.
“They’ll look at the intoxication levels of the crowd and crowd behaviour. They’ll make lots of observations and take any necessary action.”
This action can take the form of verbal warnings or issuing infringement notices, and changes to the Liquor Act that come into effect on July 1 will likely mean increased enforcement from the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing (OLGR), and increased joint enforcement operations that police will conduct with OLGR and hopefully Sydney City Council, Adney said.
The new officers will be “out in force” over the long weekend as will police in general, Adney said, although she cautioned against the GLBT community expecting police to be “on every block”.
“Eight or nine police is small number of police but when specifically trained and targeting something specific like the responsible service of alcohol, it can make a difference,” she said.
“It’s not that you’re going to see two cops on every block every weekend but what we do hope is that this new strategy will have an impact in that it’ll decrease the number of intoxicated people who then become involved in alcohol-related incidents. We’re trying to get the message out that if you come into Oxford Street and do the wrong thing, you will interact with the police.”
ACON’s Anti-Violence Project (AVP) reports that in the 24-week period in which the Safe Place has been open on Oxford Street, 90 instances of homophobic crime have been reported to the AVP across the state, compared to 24 in the same period last year.
AVP Co-Ordinator Nancy De Castro said it was unclear as to whether the level of crime was up or that more people were reporting it.
The Safe Place pilot is now over and the project is currently being externally evaluated.
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