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More than 70 people were arrested over the Queen’s Birthday weekend as part of Surry Hills Local Area Command (LAC)’s Operation Rolling Thunder.
Superintendent Donna Adney said alcohol-related crime, intoxicated people, those in possession of drugs, and licensed venues were hit hard over the weekend.
“There was a lot of police activity, several arrests and lots of licensing and business inspections,” Adney told SX.
The three-day blitz saw 48 people arrested for possession or supply of drugs and up to 30 licensing breaches noted, including underage patrons, intoxicated clientele, fire exits not being illuminated and inadequate security provisions, according to a statement issued by the NSW Police.
In addition, a 19-year-old man from Merrylands and a 19-year-old man from Yagoona were arrested by Surry Hills police following a serious assault that was captured on the City of Sydney’s CCTV system outside the Courthouse Hotel at Taylor Square. The incident occurred at about 6.10am on Friday, where both men were observed by camera operators to approach the victim outside the Courthouse Hotel. The two men were subsequently charged with Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm and Affray.
Police are also calling for witnesses to an assault involving a hammer around 7.30am on Friday outside 187 Liverpool St in Darlinghurst.
Meanwhile, in a bid to increase visibility to the GLBT community in the area, a monthly mobile command centre on a Sunday morning is on the cards at Taylor Square.
“We are tentatively looking at having a mobile command post in Taylor Square from mid-morning to midday where we invite different community groups to stand with us,” Adney told SX. “It’s essentially just a place for a couple of hours one Sunday a month at this stage for us and ACON, us and the council, resident groups, whatever, to just be there and people can approach us, say hi and talk about things that are important to them in the area; it’s another way of getting the police out there.”
But it is a “heavy resourcing commitment” and will not necessarily be a permanent fixture, Adney stressed. “I want to get to the group that can join words together and make a sentence and that’s not going to happen on a Saturday night and I need my cops to be mobile on Saturday night, to respond. It’s a good way to let people know we’re around. It’s not something I’m going to say is a permanent commitment. If on a given Sunday it’s hailing we’re not going to be there.”
The mobile centre could be up and running as early as July.
ACON’s Anti-Violence Project (AVP) received no reports of any homophobic-related incidences over the long weekend, as of press time.
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