Whangarei police are questioning bar promotions which they say encourage excess drinking and amateur stripping.
But the owner of Danger Danger - a bar criticised by police - has defended its promotions and says the force has a vendetta against his establishment.
Whangarei and Dargaville police area controller Inspector Paul Dimery said
alcohol was causing central city problems, particularly on Wednesday nights in Vine St.
Licensees were "pushing the boundaries" and running events designed to "encourage young people to drink as much alcohol as quickly as possible".
Mr Dimery said the biggest problem was related to a "cup night" promotion being run by Danger Danger on Wednesday nights.
"Basically you can buy a cup and drink as much as you like," he said.
The bar's management had been questioned over a complaint made late last year after an 18-year-old woman stripped off in the bar in exchange for a bar tab, he said.
"We asked management of that premises whether she would have done that if she wasn't intoxicated," he said.
"There's a moral issue here."
But Mr Dimery stressed that the problem was wider than Danger Danger.
Danger Danger owner Ross Vickers said the popular cup night was approved by police and had been running for eight years.
Mr Vickers said patrons were not able to drink as much as they wanted under the promotion.
Meanwhile, the amateur striptease promotion was organised by a radio station and had not offered a bar tab.
He declined to say which radio station organised it.
"Is it any different to the Nuddy Nuptials promotion which was run on a boat in the Bay of Islands for a large bar tab and is it more offensive than the Puppetry of the Penis show which was run in the Forum North which is council-owned?"
He questioned why Mr Dimery was raising the issue after it was resolved six months ago.
The Whangarei District Council is reviewing its liquor licensing policy.
There has been a 10 per cent rise in alcohol-related crime in the district in the 2008/09 year and 65 per cent of residents felt the central business district was unsafe after dark.
Mr Dimery hoped the review would result in recommendations to help make police more effective in dealing with alcohol-related issues.
Mayor Stan Semenoff said Northland needed to mature. "It's about how we control ourselves when drinking ... what we see in Vine St and around town doesn't leave me very proud of our community in those hours of night".
