Support for retention of guides

The steering group behind Queenstown's community guides want to make the trial a permanent fixture, but questions remain on how the guides would be funded and under which structure they would operate once the Ministry of Justice crime prevention unit's two-year Curbing Alcohol Related Violence (Carv) programme ends in January.

• Results of safety survey filed

At a meeting on September 16 at the Queenstown police station to discuss the dozen Carv projects of varying scales and stages, conversation centred mostly on the guides' trial and what would happen next, Carv officer Merv Aoake said.

The meeting was attended by representatives from the Queenstown Lakes District Council, police, Public Health South, Alcohol Advisory Council, Southland District Health Board, Accident Compensation Corporation, Wakatipu Abuse Prevention Network, the Crime Prevention Unit and the Ministry of Social Development's Strengthening Families.

"Police gave feedback via [Senior Sergeant] John Fookes as to why the guides should continue and its success over the 12-week trial," Mr Aoke said.

"Feedback from community groups was also positive and it was felt they would hate to see the guides disappear, but they accepted there would be a bit of down time as we sort out a permanent base, structure of how it works and also funding."

Mr Aoake said he recommended to the Carv group that the guides became the council's responsibility and that funding should be secured for at least the next two years from a combination of council rates, community trusts and central Government coffers.

"The guides are not police or security, so it is important to keep them within community auspices, like the council. Funding has to be a collaboration because we're dealing with people outside of Queenstown and New Zealand."

The four community guides patrolled the central business district on Thursday to Saturday nights from June 27 until September 14.

Mr Aoake said the trial had operated under its budget of $30,000.

He estimated it would cost $60,000 to $100,000 to run the guides for one year, depending on how many guides were hired and when they worked.

The steering group was to meet again to discuss the recommendations and the outcomes would be relayed by Queenstown Lakes Mayor Clive Geddes, Mr Aoake said.

"They were looking at a funding regime through the Department of Internal Affairs as one avenue and the closing date for applications is [this] week.

"All of them to a person were very conscious that if we have too much time in between stopping and starting we would lose momentum and credibility on the street."