Inner city almost devoid of action

By Chris Daniels

The souped-up cars racing up and down a near-deserted Queen St last night were unlikely to impress anyone much.

Even had they not been upstaged by motorcycle-flanked flashing-light VIP motorcades, the only people who would have seen them were police cooling their heels outside hotels.

One-third of the nations' police force deployed in the inner city has certainly put a lid on street crime, but Apec also seems to have poured cold water on nightlife.

An early evening trawl of the inner-city streets revealed little of any attraction to an international delegate wanting a memorial night on the tiles.

Bar staff reported the kind of nightlife more suited to a mortuary than a South Pacific city of the new millennium.

"It's so dead. It has been all week," said one. "We were hoping for some of the delegates but they'll probably all go and drink in their hotels."

But there is one advantage of all the police - downtown Auckland is a pretty safe place to stroll right now. Crime in the CBD is almost non-existent.

Senior Sergeant Grahme Bartlett said: "There is absolutely nothing happening [incident-wise].

"With the influx of police at various points in the city, it would appear a high proportion of the public and the social people who come in to the city have chosen to stay away."

He said staff had reported all week a noticeable decline in the number of people at clubs and bars and on the street, and there had been a marked decline in arrests, usually when made for only minor offences.

Restaurant workers who walked to their cars late at night said they felt safer with the large police presence.

Marjan Rustenhoven of the Middle East Cafe in Wellesley St said she had stepped out of the Atrium to see 14 police. "You do feel a lot safer with so many cops around."