Editorial: After-ball blitz a welcome case of proactive policing

Photo / Northern Advocate

Few will mourn the death of the school "after-ball" party, should a police crackdown bring an end to what has become a parent-sanctioned rite of binge drinking.

For too long, schools' efforts to promote a safe night out have been undermined by pupils and some parents determined to organise these exercises in defiance and stealth.

Last year, the country's biggest secondary school, Rangitoto College, cancelled this year's ball in response to an unapproved after-ball function at which alcohol was served to students.

Schools have complained they have no right to stop events set up without their knowledge and away from their authority.

Adults organising transport, venues and alcohol have claimed they are simply responding to teenage demand and providing a secure place to party on. They could write their own Tui beer billboard.

Police sent a written warning to numerous Auckland schools this year that any function selling alcohol to schoolchildren, irrespective of parental signatures supposedly authorising the drinking, is illegal.

Their target was not the schools themselves but the parents, relatives or adult friends who have tried to circumvent schools' wishes.

Last weekend, a police team swooped on a party venue after the Pakuranga College ball, forcing the organisers to remove at least one vanload of beer and ready-to-drink alcohol. Busloads of students arrived after midnight to a dry dance floor.

It was a welcome example of proactive policing. The police are often accused of acting once crimes have been committed or tragedies occur.

In this instance they have warned parents these events are illegal and are backing the warning with action.

If the targeting of the alcohol supply is not a big enough incentive for the parties to be abandoned, some organisers ought to be prosecuted, if the evidence can be gained.

Schools, responsible parents and the public have enough adolescent risks and worries without the reckless interventions of immature "grown-ups".