Brimbank police will target bottle shops and sports clubs asking owners to sign up to a new accord barring unruly patrons.
The Star Weekly revealed last month that police, Brimbank council and 10 licensed venues had agreed on a Brimbank District Liquor Accord, an instrument for “getting tougher” on antisocial behaviour.
The accord, which could potentially ban unruly patrons from all co-operating venues, was “a response to community and police concerns regarding alcohol-related harm, property damage, violence and loss of amenity”, a council report stated.
The Westend Market Hotel and Taylors Lakes Hotel have signed up so far.
Clubs will also be encouraged to advise police of any special events likely to significantly increase numbers of people in their area. Regular safety audits will be conducted at venues, and clubs will be encouraged to maintain incident records and ensure adherence to limits on numbers of patrons per venue.
Officially rubber-stamping the accord last Wednesday, Sunshine police’s Inspector David Byrt said police would approach bottle shop owners and sporting club managers to sign on as well.
“Our aim is to head into package liquor outlets,” he said.“We don’t have a large nightclub issue; a lot of our issues come from package liquor outlets.
“This leads to violence in the home. There’s a significant number of package liquor outlets in Brimbank.
“The issues we have to address [with alcohol] are during the day and the early evenings.”
