Check on source of suspects' drinking

By SCOTT MacLEOD

A system that has trimmed alcohol crime in New South Wales will hit New Zealand streets next year as police seek new ways to tackle drunken hoons.

All police dealing with suspects will be required to ask where they have been drinking and, if it was at licensed premises, the address.

Most officers already ask such questions under a "last drinks survey", but the results are poorly collated and there is little firm data on the extent of alcohol-related crime.

Under the new system, the questions will be compulsory and the answers noted on a database.

The results will give a strong indication of which pubs serve too much beer to drunk people, fuelling the booze crimes on which police spend half their time.

In New South Wales, police send individual reports to pubs with threats of legal action unless they take more host responsibility.

The result has been a 15 per cent drop in the amount of crime caused by drunken pubgoers.

The Australian in charge of bringing the system to New Zealand, John Wiggers of the Hunter Centre for Health Advancement, said up to 70 per cent of bashings and vandalism were linked to alcohol.

"These are high-volume crimes that have a massive effect on policing." Dr Wiggers said it would take three years to have the system working fully, much of it spent tweaking computers.

A police memo called the scheme "one of the most ambitious intelligence-gathering projects we have embarked upon".

Police spokesman Jon Neilson said the results would help give a broad picture of drinking and crime patterns, allowing police to target their resources. The larger goal was to slash crime and drink-driving crashes.

Alcohol questions

From next year, all police must note:

* Whether suspects have consumed alcohol.

* How drunk they are, based on slurring, stumbling.

* Where they had their last drink.

* If at licensed premises, its name and address.