Stung: Ex-cop battles police to save RSA
The efforts of a decorated former policeman have helped save a small RSA from possible insolvency after it wrongly sold beer to an undercover officer at a concert by singer Ainslie Allen.
The bar at Titahi Bay RSA in Porirua will be dry this weekend after its alcohol licence was suspended for four days, and the manager’s certificate for 21 days, after it sold beer to someone who was not a member of the club, an affiliated club or who had been invited by a member.
Former president John Ward, himself an ex-policeman, was so upset at the sting operation that he challenged the case at a Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority hearing. He said the sting could have bankrupted the club.
Police succeeded with their accusation that the club served alcohol to a nonmember but failed with three other claims. They had asked for a seven-day
licence suspension.
Ward said the undercover officer was ‘‘flown in from outside Wellington’’, and the whole operation had been ‘‘just a total waste of taxpayer money and police resources’’.
It all started after a neighbour made a noise complaint about the club in January last year.
Police told the authority they then checked the club’s Facebook page for upcoming events and decided to stage a controlled purchase operation and compliance check on September 24, when local singer and former McDonald’s Young Entertainer TV show star Ainslie Allen was playing with her band, The Giants, at a 60th birthday party.
A pair of 16-year-old girls accompanied the undercover officer. They paid a $5 door fee, and the officer was asked by a doorman to sign the club’s entry book. The girls were refused alcohol because they did not have any ID, but the officer was sold a beer. They temporarily left the club, then returned to wait for back-up.
Police sought a sevenday suspension of the club’s alcohol licence, but Ward challenged their claims in front of alcohol authority chairman Judge Kevin Kelly earlier this year.
Ward, who was awarded a Queen’s Service Medal for his work as a Porirua policeman, said a seven-day closure was ‘‘harsh’’. It could have seen the club close its doors on the 260 members for good, after being open since the late 1940s. ‘‘We are that close to following the other RSAs.’’
He believed it would have been better policing for officers to have called the club in advance to talk about any special licences were needed for the event.
The authority’s decision, released this month, shows police succeeded in showing that the club served alcohol to a non-member. But they failed to prove it served other non-members, based on an incomplete sign-in book; allowed people to drink off the licensed premises, such as in the car park; and allowed minors to be unsupervised on site.
Wellington district alcohol prevention manager Senior Sergeant Derek Orchard said controlled purchase operations were not designed to trick licensees but were used to test their compliance with the law.
‘‘Controlled purchase operations are an extremely effective compliance assessment tool, and it is very pleasing to note that Wellington policing district has [a] high compliance rate to controlled purchase operations.’’
Titahi Bay RSA secretary Linda Smith said the club was moving forward from the incident.
National RSA spokesman Hamish Stewart said he was not aware of any other incidents involving police targeting small clubs. He planned to contact the Titahi Bay club to see if it needed any help.
‘‘The core of the RSA is people looking after people.’’