Late-night crime spots deplete police elsewhere

THE number of police required to deal with alcohol-related crime in Kings Cross and Darlinghurst has become unsustainable, commanders for the two local areas have said.

Speaking at last night's City of Sydney Council meeting, the acting commander of Surry Hills police, Shayne Woolbank, said that a "massive police deployment" was being made in Darlinghurst each weekend and it was taking officers away from other operations.

"We can't keep going because it is making it difficult to meet other operational needs," Detective Inspector Woolbank said, during a debate on the link between hotel density and violence.

"We have a massive amount of staff on the street on Friday and Saturday nights, including officers from the riot squad and staff dedicated specifically to Oxford Street … It is taking staff away from other areas."

The commanders were responding to a new study, commissioned by the City of Sydney, which found that alcohol-related crime had soared in the two popular entertainment strips between 2001 and 2006 due to an increase in late-night premises.

The officers said that since 2006 the number of assaults had fallen, but that the proportion of alcohol-related assaults had remained the same - between 60 and 70 per cent.

"In my experience there is a direct correlation between the density of alcohol establishments and the level of crime," the acting commander of Kings Cross police, Darren Schott, said.

"If you look down the street in Kings Cross there's no diversity in the businesses there - it's licensed venue, strip club, fast food joint, licensed venue, strip club, fast food joint. The police deployment is working, but it's not sustainable."

The council study contains a series of recommendations for changes to the council's planning policies, including restricting the number of late-night venues and 24-hour licences.

Councillors voted to invite public comment on the study.

"Life for the average police officer has become untenable," the Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, said. "This research further confirms the need for decisive action."

Paul Bibby is the Herald 's Urban Affairs Reporter.