LIMESTONE Coast Police were overwhelmingly happy with the behaviour of New Year’s Eve revellers who ushered in a new decade at events across the region.
Police patrols were highly visible right across the Limestone Coast and Supertintendent Phil Hoff said early reports suggested most people enjoyed the night in good spirits.
Operations manager Inspector Campbell Hill was particularly impressed with the behaviour of Mount Gambier party-goers.
“Mount Gambier was good, there were plenty of people out and about and really well-behaved crowds,” Insp Hill said.
“There were a few motorists silly enough to drive with the prescribed concentration of alcohol and an arrest in Mount Gambier for a male driving whilst disqualified.
“By and large no major issues.”
Based in Robe for the evening, Supt Hoff said the seaside town was particularly busy.
“There were an enormous number of people who informed us they were in Robe due to the cancellation of the Falls Festival in Lorne,” Supt Hoff said.
“Robe obviously saw a bit of a spike in numbers due to that.”
However he said outside an allegation of a serious sexual assault at Long Beach, there were only a handful of minor incidents throughout.
Two males were arrested for behavioural offences and eight others cautioned, while another was reported for drug offences.
A 17-year-old male was detected driving exceeding the prescribed concentration of alcohol in Robe and 27 general expiation notices were issued to people in the Limestone Coast for offences against the liquor Licensing Act.
“We had the normal incidents of people drinking in dry zones, but other than that people were pretty well-behaved,” he said.
“There were very few reports of anti-social behaviour.”
Supt Hoff said there were a number of people from the State Tactical Response Team in both Robe and Beachport to provide assistance.
He expressed a disappointment with the amount of young people who drank to excess and required welfare support.
“There were a few youths who had to be removed from licensed premises after displaying fake identification and there were number of young people grossly intoxicated,” he said.
“People need to remember not to over indulge and I do always wonder why people under the age of 18 are drinking alcohol at all.”
