WASTED nation
Police want 6-year ban on new bars to combat drunken violence
The smartphone footage shows the drunk young men puffing up their chests and barging into each other. One of them shapes up to a woman in black shorts. He knocks her off her high-heels and she lands heavily on the concrete.
Scenes like this have prompted police to push for a six-year ban on all new bars and bottle shops in Auckland’s CBD, as well as a 1am one-way door policy and a 3am close.
But one of the men involved in that downtown clash says harsher measures would be a mistake.
During that March 20 assault on Queen St, 25-year-old Sean Collis lost three teeth and had his jaw broken as he stepped in to ‘‘tussle’’ with a man, landing him a charge of assault with intent to injure.
Ahead of his court date on Tuesday, where he faces jail time, he says the fight shouldn’t be used as justification for police to bring in restrictions on bar opening hours.
‘‘It’s an easy scapegoat to make, looking at this fight and saying they (police) need to get tough on bars,’’ he says.
‘‘But it’s ignoring the real issue. They’re (the police) too busy trying to get involved in bars but they need to be out on the streets.’’
Collis admits he shouldn’t have got involved. But he says he saw a man getting choked on the ground in Fort St and wanted to prevent him being seriously injured.
It wasn’t a problem with booze that led to the initial confrontation, he says, but more of a testosteronefuelled crowd of bystanders who ended up joining in.
He says a 3am closing time could make things worse.
‘‘I think you’d have everyone spilling out at the same time and then there would be more of these type of incidents.’’
But the footage, and the violence shown in another CCTV video of a late-night brawl at roughly the same spot in May, have given police two new pieces of evidence in their argument for tougher restrictions on drinking.
And with their appeal of Auckland Council’s Local Alcohol Policy to be heard as early as the end of this year, police are ramping up calls for a crackdown on closing times.
But how big is the issue of boozefuelled violence, and will a six-year freeze on bars solve the problem of booze-fuelled violence?
Inspector Gary Davey of Auckland police is adamant a six-year ban is needed. He says it’s a ‘‘moth to the flame’’ argument – the more bars, the more violence. The longer bars are open, the greater the chance of ugly episodes.
He says the two Fort St brawls are part of a regular grind of street fights that police deal with every weekend.
‘‘We’re a bit sick of it, to be honest. We expect to see it. It’s unusual when it doesn’t happen,’’ he says.
Davey is disappointed by Auckland City’s proposal of 4am closing, and says it should instead follow the lead of Sydney, which has seen a major drop in assaults since its
controversial lock-out laws came in.
But Hospitality New Zealand says the Sydney example is exactly what we should avoid – the city’s nighttime economy has taken a battering.
Even the New South Wales state government wouldn’t consider anything as drastic as a six-year freeze, it says.
‘‘Quite frankly, it’s draconian,’’ Hospitality NZ’s Auckland vicepresident Russell Gray says.
‘‘It would mean hospitality operators would have no confidence to invest in new ventures. It’s a very backward-thinking step. It’s
anti-business.’’
John Hellebrekers, who represents 22 Auckland bars and restaurants in his role as managing director of Barworks, says police are missing the point: ‘‘Bars are not the problem, drinking on the street in unsupervised areas is the issue’’. And he fears the city will suffer if we have six years without any new bars. ‘‘If this ban had been brought in (in 2010) there wouldn’t be any real hospitality offering on North Wharf, a number of venues in Britomart wouldn’t exist, Federal St would be very limited, and large numbers of excellent, world-class bars, restaurants and cafes wouldn’t exist.’’ Rob Warner, veteran Auckland DJ and co-founder of the campaign group Dance Til Dawn, worries that if police do get their way, Auckland’s reputation will suffer enormously.
Following Sydney’s example might reduce the number of assaults, but at a cost. ‘‘Yeah, it works. It works by closing venues down and there’s nowhere left to go.’’
What’s missing in the debate between the police and the big bars that sell lots of booze is the impact on the smaller venues that stay open late for the electronic music crowd, says Warner, who estimates that over the past three years he’s spent at least 20 hours a week researching alcohol policies.
What he suggests is a more nuanced approach in tackling the causes of the issue.
‘‘Closing a small number of latenight music-focused premises earlier will not have any meaningful impact on drinking cultures contributing to alcohol harm.’’
The Dance Til Dawn submission was one of 2600 the council considered before it released its provisional policy in May 2015, which settled on 4am closing times in the CBD and a two-year freeze on new off-licences, due to the high number already open.
Davey says it didn’t go far enough and police are insistent on a six-year freeze on both off-licences and onlicences.
‘‘It’s not a hard argument to make, what it’s saying is if you’re serious about reducing the amount of harm caused from alcohol in your community then why would you want to see any new bars or licences open up in that exact area where all the harm is occurring as a result of those bars?’’
And although Davey says he’s expecting a heated debate, he suspects most opposition is coming from those with vested interests.
‘‘In my view it comes solely down to money. The alcohol industry is very powerful. They have a lot of money. They don’t care what level of harm is caused in the community. And police are saying we do care.’’
The medical sector backs the police, says Auckland City Hospital Emergency Department clinical director Anil Nair.
Every weekend at work he is flanked by patrolling security guards and ‘‘watchers’’ who keep an eye out for drunks and drug-affected patients.
He says alcohol-related incidents account for between a third and half of all cases coming through on Friday and Saturday nights.
He has personally stitched up ‘‘countless’’ people who’ve been beaten up on the streets, some of them suffering life-long harm.
‘‘You see so much trauma in the job, it’s sad, it’s all avoidable for these young guys.
The two men critically injured in the March 20 assault were both discharged in a stable condition, while one man was critical but also later stable from the May 21 violence at the same location.
In both cases the videos helped police track down those involved. One of them, bare-chested brawler Joshua Lepage, has already been fined $300 for fighting in a public place.
At Lepage’s court appearance, Community Magistrate Dianne Hale told him ‘‘to have a good look at himself’’.
Davey adds that anyone brawling on the streets needs to have a long think about what they’re doing.
‘‘What I do know is that there are groups who thrive on this type of violence. They’re actually out there looking for this issue.’’
Hellebrekers says everyone will be punished for the actions of a few.
‘‘Thousands of people enjoy safe and responsible nights out in town, without coming to harm or inflicting harm on others.’’
Another fight is looming. But it won’t be on the streets this time. Instead, the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority has to rule on whether downtown night-life will be quieter – but safer.
Bars are not the problem, drinking on the street in unsupervised areas is the issue. John Hellebrekers Barworks