Concerns about youth access to alcohol have prompted police and health authorities to do stings of liquor outlets to make sure they are not selling to minors. Photo / Mark McKeown
Concerns about youth access to alcohol have prompted police and health authorities to do stings of liquor outlets to make sure they are not selling to minors. Photo / Mark McKeown
Four liquor outlets in Northland have been caught selling booze to minors in a sting by police and Te Whatu Ora.
The recent operation saw underage volunteers, aged just 16, attempt to buy alcohol from licensed premises in the greater Whangārei and greater Bay of Islands areas.
Two sales were made in Whangārei out of the 19 outlets tested. The Bay of Islands operation tested 20 outlets and also resulted in two sales.
The operations were run by Ngā Tai Ora Public Health Northland staff.
Whangārei police alcohol harm prevention officer Sergeant Tai Patrick said the results were disappointing for the community.
“It is worrying when licensees are caught selling alcohol to underage[rs]. The premises involved should have better systems in place regarding not selling alcohol to minors. These sales of alcohol should not be occurring,” Patrick said.
Applicants wanting to sell alcohol must state that there are appropriate systems and procedures in place to prevent sale of alcohol to underage people.
“Clearly this is not the case for those that sold to minors.”
“As a community, we need to have confidence that licence holders will not sell alcohol to our youth and allow them drinking unsupervised and potentially harmful.”
Patrick noted the consequences when licensees are reported to the authorities are major and it can result in a suspension of their licence to sell alcohol for a number of days.
Sergeant Tai Patrick previously told the Advocate that it's a privilege, not a right, to sell alcohol. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Kerikeri police alcohol harm prevention officer Acting Sergeant Roger Dephoff said all premises should have the right procedures in place to guard against sales to young persons.
“All premises selling or supplying alcohol are aware that we run these types of operations regularly so should not be surprised that they are being tested,” Dephoff said.
He stressed that it is important a full and proper identification check be carried out, including calculating the age.
“It is important to emphasise that if identification is unable to be produced by anyone attempting to purchase alcohol who looks under 25 years of age, the sellers should not sell the alcohol to them,” Dephoff said.
“This is best practice and the only sure way to prevent sales to those underage”.
The minimum legal age for buying alcohol in New Zealand is 18 years, but there is no legal drinking age in the country.
The law says you cannot supply alcohol to someone under the age of 18 years unless you are the parent or legal guardian or have the express consent of the young person’s parent or legal guardian.
The 2019/20 Rangatahi Youth Survey found that young people are drinking less and the prevalence of binge drinking declined from 2007 to 2019.
The New Zealand health survey showed that 57.5 per cent of 15- to 17-year-olds reported drinking in the last year. This equates to 105,000 young people, which is 59,000 less than in 2006/07.
The penalty for failing to supply alcohol responsibly is a fine of up to $2000.
Both the police and Te Whatu Ora Northland urge all licensed premises to remain highly vigilant when selling alcohol products.
Controlled Purchase Operations (CPOs) are part of an ongoing programme to assess compliance with the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 in an effort to address access to alcohol by minors.
