Extra police to hit festive beat

Issues in the past during that period included disorder, family violence and domestic disputes and traffic offending, often exacerbated by alcohol. Photo / File

Police will hit the beat en masse in Northland to quell drunken behaviour and driving this festive season.

A three-week-long operation - called New Year's Eve - will kick off at 8am on Monday and will aim to prevent disorder and maintain public safety during the holiday period when there is an influx of people into Northland, says police operations manager Inspector Marty Ruth.

"Our focus is to discourage the excessive consumption of alcohol in public places, particularly in beach resort areas and hotels. We will have a highly visible presence on the streets and in beach areas as a deterrent to disorderly behaviour and alcohol abuse," he said.

"We will also focus on drink-driving and will be breath testing every driver [who] is stopped." Specialist police groups, such as youth services, crime investigation branch and road policing, will also be available.

"We roster to demand and are able to roster all our work groups at peak times such as New Year's Eve. So it's not just the frontline staff who will be available."

Issues in the past during that period included disorder, family violence and domestic disputes and traffic offending, often exacerbated by alcohol.

While police wouldn't release frontline staff numbers, Mr Ruth said: "There [are] probably more guys working on New Year's Eve and Christmas than we've ever had. We will be highly visible and will deploy staff to high-risk areas where a lot of people are likely to congregate for summer events, such as Northern Bass at Kaiwaka, and Bay of Islands events."

About 6000 people were expected at the Northern Bass event, and police had provided for that.

"We will be patrolling the roads to and from the event for the duration of the festival and we will have a visible presence at the venue to ensure that festival is safe for all attendees."

Two prison vans would be stationed at Paihia to process those arrested in the Far North, in place of shipping containers used in the past, he said.

Alcohol bans had also greatly helped. "Alcohol bans have reduced intoxication on eastern beaches dramatically."

Gone were the New Year's events like in Whangamata where there would be 150 arrests and police present with batons and riot gear. "We've moved a long way from there. District staff are getting to the problem areas before it happens."

Mr Ruth urged organisers to "manage your event and control your alcohol" to prevent alcohol-related issues arising.

The operation will end at 8am on January 12.