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Tourist mecca Queenstown is where people are most likely to be violently assaulted, according to new police statistics.
Figures compiled by Queenstown police intelligence analyst Constable Sean Drader showed that people were almost twice as likely to be violently assaulted in Queenstown than anywhere else in New Zealand.
The Southland Times reported today that the assault would almost certainly take place in the central business district and there was a 17 per cent chance it would be on licensed premises.
There was a 64 per cent chance the attacker would be a New Zealander, an 87 per cent chance he would be male and an almost 50 per cent chance he would work in the construction industry or as a chef and the attack would taken place between 1am and 2am and probably at New Year, Easter or during the peak winter period.
In the year to June 30 there were 193 reported violent attacks. Of those arrested, 97 per cent were affected by alcohol.
Mr Drader's report showed that a New Zealander or visitor had a one-in-139 chance of being the victim of a violent crime in Queenstown compared with a one-in-202 chance in the rest of New Zealand.
For New Zealanders that figure was a massive one-in-84 chance in Queenstown, compared with one in 196 for the rest of New Zealand.
In Queenstown 17 per cent of violent attacks occurred on licensed premises compared with 3 per cent in the rest of New Zealand.
Mr Drader told the newspaper it was up to the community in general and bar owners in particular to take ownership of the problem and begin taking steps, alongside police and the Queenstown Lakes District Council to resolve it.
- NZPA
