Drinkers commit 258 crimes a day

A total of 258 people every day in New Zealand drink alcohol then commit a crime, police research has found.

Announcing the new police Alcohol Action Plan yesterday, Assistant Commissioner Howard Broad said a study of the last six months of 2005 found 47,119 offenders consumed alcohol prior to committing the offence.

That equated to 258 offenders a day or one offender every 5mins 36secs.

"We're not talking about people who've had just one or two drinks," Mr Broad said.

The cost of dealing with the crime was "conservatively" estimated in billions of dollars, he said.

"Overseas studies suggest that between 50 and 70 per cent of all police work is associated in some way with dealing with alcohol-fuelled incidents."

In response, police in New Zealand have established Alco-link - aimed at collecting alcohol-related information - and launched an Alcohol Action Plan, which will try to minimise alcohol-related crime and crashes.

Mr Broad said a rise in the number of alcohol licences issued and the lowering of the drinking age had added to the alcohol crime situation, but licensed premises were not the only problem.

The 2005 study found that of people who had drunk then offended, 56 per cent had had their last drink in a private home and, of those, 71 per cent were moderately or extremely affected by the alcohol.

Of the remainder who either had their last drink in licensed premises or a public place (29 per cent and 14 per cent respectively), 96 per cent were moderately or extremely affected by the alcohol.

"Our intelligence clearly indicates that the consumption of alcohol in homes and public places has a greater impact on alcohol-related crime than licensed premises alone," Mr Broad said.

- NZPA