Police unite to take on drunken hoons

Police arrested 737 people and laid 1101 charges over the weekend as part of operation “Unite” – a blitz against alcohol-related violence in Australia.

The joint Australia and New Zealand program ran for the second year and around 1300 extra police officers were deployed across NSW during the state’s portion of the operation.

Operation Unite Commander, Frank Mennilli, said the purpose of the operation was to show the public police ‘have had enough’ of alcohol-related violence.

“It appears some people chose to ignore our warnings about booze-fuelled crime in the belief they wouldn’t be caught,” he said.

“Well, I can assure you there are several hundred people this morning who now wish they could turn back the clock and avoid breaking the law.”

The operation was launched on Wednesday by NSW Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione who said during the launch alcohol was a factor in more than 70 per cent of street-related crime incidents NSW police were called to.

“We need to change Australia’s binge-drinking culture and we need to fall out of love with alcohol,” Cr Scipione said.

“It’s no longer acceptable to drink ‘til you drop.”

Report on abuse

His comments follow the release of an Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation (AERF) report, The Range and Magnitude of Alcohol’s Harm to Others, showing more than 70,000 adults and 20,000 children are the victims of alcohol-related assaults each year.

The report also estimates costs to the tax-payer of more than $14 billion per annum in the form of out-of-pocket expenses and forgone wages. In many cases this is in addition to the already recognised $15 billion already identified as a cost of alcohol abuse in Australia.

Deputy Chairman of AERF, Scott Wilson, told City News the report showed the growing problem of alcohol-related crime in Australia.

“We’ve all got a bit of a problem,” he said.

“We need to change the culture around drinking and the way Australians do drink.

“We need to raise people’s awareness. A lot of people seem to think they’re only hurting themselves but that’s not true – there are others involved.”

“Nobody goes out for the night and thinks they are going to end up in jail for manslaughter or something like that but that can happen.”

Manslaughter in Wollongong

Mr Wilson’s comments are given extra weight after police charged a 26-year-old man with manslaughter and affray after an alleged confrontation outside a licensed premise in Shellharbour Road, south of Wollongong, on Friday night left another man dead.

It’s alleged the man was struck and fell backwards, hitting his head on the ground. He died a short time later in Shellharbour Hospital.

In a release Mr Scipione stressed the costs of alcohol-related violence on the community.

“As a community, we also need to consider the damaging effects that alcohol misuse has on the individual who is consuming it, the friends and family of drinkers and the impact on emergency personnel, including police and ambulance officers, who mop up the mess,” he said.

Police and Emergency Services victims of alcohol-fuelled assaults

Over 550 police officers were injured while responding to alcohol-related incidents in NSW last year and figures from the Ambulance Service of NSW show an increase in the number of reported incidents of aggressive behaviour resulting in harm to paramedics from 75 in 2006-07 to 120 in 2008-09.

“Too many of the incidents we attend have alcohol as a contributing factor and too often intoxicated individuals make it harder for paramedics to do their job,” Chief Executive of the Ambulance Greg Rochford said.

“I fully support this initiative to raise awareness and promote moderation.”

On Friday July 30, a new law was introduced making it a crime to hinder ambulance officers in their duties.

Frank Mennilli said operations like Unite would only work if members of the community also started to take responsibility for their behaviour and controlled their drinking.

“We just wish people would take personal responsibility for their actions…it’s no good blaming the booze once you’ve been arrested for assaulting someone, the damage is done,” he said.

“People have got to stop drinking to the point where they lose control and put themselves and others in harm’s way.

“We’re going to keep up these types of operations until the message gets through.”

By Simon Black