A total of 66 officers, mostly from Dunedin and Invercargill, will be working in Queenstown and Wanaka tonight as the two holiday towns’ populations increase several-fold with an influx of New Year’s Eve revellers.
Sergeant Steve Watt, of Queenstown, said 39 officers from other centres would join Wanaka staff for the night, including seven at the Rhythm & Alps music festival near Cardrona, which began on Sunday.
Across the hill in Queenstown, 17 local staff would be reinforced by 27 officers from other centres, including five members of the road policing unit already in the resort to cope with the huge increase in traffic volumes, Sgt Watt said.
The boost to police numbers was necessary to ensure people had a "fantastic, trouble-free night" at a time when the district’s population swelled three-fold to about 100,000.
Wanaka got a bigger share of outside staff because it had fewer local officers, and tended to attract a younger demographic of partygoers with a greater potential for disorder.
Based on the experience of the past few years, the celebrations on Queenstown’s waterfront were expected to be more "family-oriented fun".
New Year’s celebrations will not be the only thing keeping them busy.
Complaints about bad driving are soaring as the holiday season ramps up in the Otago Lakes region.
Otago Lakes-Central road policing manager Glenn Wilkinson said police received 41 calls about bad driving in the 24 hours until 7am yesterday.
That compared with 26 calls during a 24-hour period four days earlier.
"It’s gone up quite markedly in the past week — that’s at least double what we’d normally get.
"It’s keeping our staff busy."
Police responded to as many complaints as possible, Sen Sgt Wilkinson said.
When they were unable to have a "roadside chat" with the driver, they attempted to follow up; in the case of rental vehicles, the rental company put them in touch.
Although the spike in complaints was partly a result of the increased traffic volumes, impatience was a major factor.
Vehicles crossing the centre line and overtaking on yellow lines were the most common complaints from other motorists, he said.
