Central City Alcohol Ban proposal passed by Council on 20 December 2002
 The Christchurch City Council has made a decision to look at banning
the carrying or drinking of alcohol in public in the Central City area on Thursday,
Friday and Saturday nights. The aim of the proposal is to make the
Central City safer at the weekend.
All streets, malls, parks and public places inside the zone are now alcohol-free from 7pm to 7am Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The first day of the ban was Boxing Day, 26 December 2002.
What area does the ban cover?
The proposed area is all public places within the Central City
area, covering the area within Moorhouse Avenue, Hagley Avenue,
Rolleston Avenue, Park Terrace, Bealey Avenue and Fitzgerald Ave.
When will the ban apply?
The ban will apply on those days from 7pm to 7am the following
morning and would give police officers the power to arrest people
who refuse to follow their instructions and take away any alcohol
they have in the area.
In every case, officers would first give people a chance to take
away the alcohol. The ban would not apply to licensed premises,
including outside bar areas, or to people who are carrying alcohol
for a restaurant meal or to a home in the area.
Police asked the Council to apply the ban to all the Central City
inside the four avenues to the east of Hagley Park. That is the
area bordered by Bealey, Fitzgerald and Moorhouse avenues to the
north, east and south respectively and, in the west, the streets
running along Hagley Park's eastern edge - Hagley and Rolleston
avenues and Park Terrace.
How do the Police feel about the proposed ban?
Christchurch Police Inspector David Lawry believes the ban could
make a big improvement in actual public safety and to people's feelings
about how safe the central city is. His staff estimate that up to
80 per cent of disorder offences involve people who have been drinking.
The Police proposal is along similar lines to successful bans in
Auckland and other cities, says Inspector Lawry. It would give police
officers the right to tell people they are not allowed to be drinking
or carrying alcohol in public places within central city.
"It's not about arresting hundreds of people," Inspector Lawry
told City Councillors last month. "It's mainly about education,
telling people that it's not appropriate to be wandering the streets
drinking. "Even if they're behaving themselves, a lot of people
find that frightening and bottles and glasses can, and sometimes
are, used as weapons." The central city already is a safe area for
people, he says, and the ban would complement other schemes being
run by the Police, Council and other agencies and help make it even
safer.
"You've got more than 60,000 people coming in and out every day
and fewer than 20 violence or disorder offences," Inspector Lawry
says. "That means a very low probability of being involved in crime,
but I think this scheme could cut that small number of offences
by as much as a fifth so it's worth doing."
Just as important, he says, is its likely effect on people's perception
of central city safety. "This is a safe area and this partnership
with the Council will help us persuade more people that that's so."
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