Twelve people have been charged with drink-driving and 15 with alcohol-related offences after a police operation in Auckland city last night.

More than 70 police teamed up with partner agencies for Operation Relentless, focusing on alcohol-related offending in in Auckland's CBD and other hot-spots, including Ponsonby and Mission Bay.

"Our focus last night was prevention and a zero tolerance approach to alcohol-related crime," said Inspector Mark Benefield.

"We used a number of tactics, such as high visibility foot patrols, drink driving tests and enforcing alcohol bans."

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Generally police were pleased with the outcome of the prevention operation.

"Unfortunately we still had to make a number of arrests overnight for alcohol-related disorder," Mr Benefield said.

"We had to respond to a big spike in disorder and assaults in the CBD around 4am. Unfortunately this has become common as it's when licensed premises close and people congregate on the streets after drinking alcohol for long periods of time."

Fifteen people were arrested overnight for disorder and violence-related offences where alcohol was at the centre of offending.

Mr Benefield said a further 12 will be prosecuted for drink driving.

Police issued 29 infringement notices, which involved a $250 fine, for people breaching local alcohol bans in Ponsonby and the CBD.

Controlled Purchase Operations (CPOs) were also conducted earlier yesterday and of the 25 off-licence premises tested none sold alcohol to minors. One of the two on-licence premises tested failed.

This is a low failure rate compared with other recent CPOs in Auckland City.