Booze blitz targets Wairarapa

A massive drink-drive blitz is on this weekend in Wairarapa as part of an international campaign to tackle problem drinkers.
The joint New Zealand and Australian Operation Unite kicks off for the fourth time tonight, with the focus on young drinkers, catching drink drivers, enforcing liquor bans and visiting pubs and bars to check for liquor licence compliance.
That means a greater number of "highly visible" officers on the streets this weekend running from 6 o'clock tonight to 6 tomorrow morning, and the same again tomorrow night - the risk times for alcohol intoxication.
Senior Sergeant Warwick Burr said the entire Wairarapa would be targeted, with extra staff called in to patrol towns and man alcohol checkpoints from South Wairarapa to north of Masterton.
"It's a focus area for the police nationally and the public can expect consistent policing around this area.
"Operation Unite is a chance for us locally to emphasize the policing of alcohol-related offending and put out staff tasked specifically around alcohol."
He said alcohol-fuelled problems were widespread.
"It's very clear in the police and in the public that alcohol causes a lot of issues and harm in our community."
Jon White, chief executive officer of the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency, said young Australians and New Zealanders were regular drinkers but for many of them, the harmful impacts of a 'drink to get drunk' culture were not always understood.
"Binge drinking is routine and planned and young people don't seem to realise that when they go out and get drunk, they are putting themselves and their mates at risk of being victims of alcohol-related violence."
Over the weekend police officers will be working alongside partner agencies including District Licensing Agencies, Public Health Units, Alac, Maori Wardens, Community Patrols, Neighbourhood Support Groups and other interest groups to reduce alcohol harm.
Acting Detective Superintendent Ross Grantham, of Police National Headquarters, said the operation was not about curbing young people's fun.
"It's about challenging alcohol misuse and drawing attention to the damage intoxication causes at all levels of society.
"It's not fun for hotel, shop, council or security staff to clean up pools of vomit; it's not a joke for police officers to try and make sense of intoxicated young people who are or who have become the victim of alcohol-fuelled crime.
"Paramedics and emergency department professionals don't find it funny to treat drunken and injured patients; and it's no laughing matter for police officers to tell parents that someone they love has been hurt or killed through alcohol-fuelled violence. We're not pretending that Operation Unite will magically solve all alcohol-related crime and anti-social behaviours, but we know it's an opportunity to talk about the impact alcohol has on people's lives."