During this past weekend Australian and New Zealand police conducted a massive crackdown on drunken violence and drink driving. The event was widely reported and big police contingents set up roadside breath tests - and concentrated on clubs and pubs that had a history of drunken brawling.
Across this state 737 people were charged with 1101 offences. Here in the Illawarra 26 people were charged with 59 offences - and breath testing resulted in fifteen people arrested for exceeding .05 - with a further two disqualified drivers detected.
Despite wide knowledge that police would be out in force there was little sign of abatement of excess drinking - and drivers continued to get behind the wheel after consuming alcohol. It was simply a case of " violence as usual " on the club and pub scene.
The police have indicated that there will be another crackdown before Christmas !
Periodic police blitzes at three month intervals are clearly insufficient. To get the message across we need a lift in police manpower every weekend to drill it into thick heads that drunken behaviour is not going to be tolerated. Heavy arrest rates will eventually spread the message - and achieve the objective.
The police will claim that they have neither the budget or the numbers to sustain such a campaign - but the whole reason for having a police force is to make the streets safe for ordinary citizens - and that is not happening when drunken mobs go on the rampage and drunken drivers threaten the safety of others.
If it takes an increase in the police budget - and the recruitment of more police - then so be it ! The present situation is unacceptable !
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