Drunken sports club patrons have been told police will be watching them a lot more closely as part of the campaign to challenge the "drink to get drunk" culture.
More than 200 police from the Counties Manukau district in south Auckland were involved in Operation Unite last weekend -- a trans-Tasman effort to reduce incidents of alcohol-related harm and challenge the drinking culture.
About 130 people were arrested in the district for a range of alcohol-related offences, mostly disorder.
Police said while they found a high rate of compliance in licensed premises with identity checks before selling alcohol, sports clubs did not fare well.
Police said they were concerned at the number of drunken people and the disorderly behaviour at several sports clubs in the district.
"In the lead-up to the Rugby World Cup we are being especially vigilant about the supply of alcohol to minors and intoxicated patrons," said acting district commander, Superintendent Nick Perry.
It was disappointing some premises were not meeting their obligations on host responsibility.
He said because of that in the next few months police would step up monitoring of all premises that supplied liquor, particularly clubs.
"There is no quick-fix to changing our drinking culture but people need to understand that there can be some pretty serious consequences. We see these consequences every week on our roads, in our community centres and in our homes."
Mr Perry said young people should know they were risking becoming victims of crime when they were drunk.
"I urge parents to have those tough conversations with their kids around their drinking habits, specifically discouraging them from 'pre-loading' before they head out."
Pre-loading involves young people drinking at home to get partially or fully drunk before heading out so they avoid having to pay expensive bar prices for drinks.
Mr Perry said the messages were timely because the school ball season was approaching.
Police and the Auckland Council had developed guidelines covering the supply of alcohol at after-ball functions and had circulated them to all schools in the Auckland area.
Police said schools and parents need to know:
• Functions for which tickets are sold are not a private social gathering;
• the sale of alcohol to minors, including the use of a ticket system, is illegal;
• a signed permission slip from parents and caregivers for their children to drink alcohol has no legal standing.
• district licensing agencies and the police know when and where school balls are being held and will take action to stop large after-ball gatherings. That could include preventing students from boarding buses to the venue;
• large, secret gatherings in non-approved premises could be risky because of overcrowding due to gatecrashers.
• small, home gatherings of friends and families after the ball should be encouraged.
