Queenstown's and Wanaka's populations increase exponentially over the Christmas-New Year period but this year police were expecting numbers to be even higher due to the Covid-19 crisis and border lockdowns, she said.
Thirty-seven extra police officers from Dunedin were deployed annually to Wanaka for New Year's festivities and this year's contingent was due to arrive on Sunday and provide a visible presence on streets and roads until January 3, Chittenden said.
Dealing with youths and alcohol would probably make the biggest demands on police time.
"We have families from out of town come to Wanaka for New Year and the adults stay at home and get on the juice while they leave their young ones supplied with alcohol to do whatever they like.
"We are asking the community to take responsibility for this and not supply their young people with alcohol without supervision."
When youths congregated in the Wanaka town centre, fights broke out and people got hurt.
Police were encouraging parents and caregivers not to stay at home but rather to go into town and support their young people there, she said.
A six-member alcohol prevention team would be part of the police contingent arriving from Dunedin and would be checking restaurants and bars to ensure they complied with licensing restrictions such as not serving underage drinkers or intoxicated patrons, she said.
Police would be visiting the Albert Town and Hawea camp grounds before New Year's to speak to young people about underage drinking, even though both grounds had implemented age restrictions on who could stay there unsupervised, Chittenden said.
Queenstown Lakes District Council Wanaka ward councillor Quentin Smith said a huge number of young people would be in town due to restrictions on overseas travel and a big Rhythm & Alps music festival programme.
"We need to take seriously protecting our young people and, in particular, our young women from alcohol-related harm over this period.
"QLDC along with other agencies invested heavily in safe events, with security guards, liquor bans, water safety and education over this period.
"We don't want to be the fun police but we can't sit by and do nothing," Smith said.
Police were also warning young people not to take any illegal substances such as MDMA, also known as ecstasy.
"People will specifically come here to Wanaka to supply young people with drugs, so the message from us is to be aware and don't take any illegal substances because they will run the risk of exposing themselves to real physical danger," Chittenden said.
