 Yeah, it's Ross Barnett deputy commissioner. We're good to go. All right. Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen We just want to take this opportunity to remind the community that starting at six o'clock tonight and finishing at 6 a.m. On Sunday morning please from across Australia New Zealand will have a coordinated approach to the management of public space drinking operation unite It's the fifth time that the operation has been run. The last one was run in May this year While police are coordinating their efforts It's important to understand that alcohol and drug fuel violence is not just a policing issue But it's an issue that the whole community has to take responsibility for for the causes and the effects As we move into the holiday and festive season at the start of December We think particularly timely to remind everybody to be responsible in their approach to alcohol and to be mindful of the adverse effects that it can have on our families and our friends In Queensland, we're going to have extra police rosted on across the state Particularly within the entertainment precincts and the drinks safe precincts Our police will be targeting violent and anti-social behavior And we again encourage everybody to enjoy alcohol safely and responsibly While this weekend is a targeted high visibility approach to the issue the QPS maintains a constant focus throughout the year on Ensuring people's enjoyment of public space entertainment, and it's not going to be ruined by people who cannot drink and act responsibly Thank you for taking the question I think it's more busy this time of year for you guys in those party precincts and sort of the festive period Yeah, it's a natural consequence of the start of the holiday season and the festive season That people are out enjoying public spaces, there are a lot more Christmas parties People get out and enjoy what the state has to offer And that's only natural and appropriate and we want to see that happen We're certainly not the fun police We're not interested in people who go out and know how to have a good time and act responsibly We're only after that minority who can't go out and understand that there are limits And we're there trying to ruin the night for everybody else How are things going in that regard? I know that it probably gets busier at this time of year But essentially, more generally, sorry, is there a white privilege of alcohol fueled violence, say year on year? The stat review was just released recently and that showed that this year compared to last year We had about a 10% drop in good order offences Now, good order offences are things like move on, disobey move on directions from the police Disorderly conduct, resist arrest, those sorts of things, public nuisance is the major one So it dropped about 10% but across the state we had nearly 48,000 of those offences Which shows that it's still a problem for us, that number is far too high As a community, we shouldn't have that level of offending by people who can't go out And have a good time without their behaviour being such that the police have to intervene You're worried about people out there, but it's almost like drinking is like a sport that just gets crazy Yeah, it's sad, it's a community attitude issue that we have to deal with That people seem to go out, a minority of people, I must stress, go out with the intention of getting drunk Binge drinking is an issue for us, there is no doubt about it The demographics of the people that get dealt with by the police, as you would expect It's sort of in the 19-25 year old age bracket After that, after about 24-25, it starts to drop off fairly markedly with age as you would hope and you would expect But it's still a significant issue for us as a community And we can't arrest our way out of it, it's not just a policing issue It's for the community to educate our young people about responsible drinking And the fact that there are no rights without responsibilities in a community And the right to go out and drink in public comes with certain responsibilities How you should act and how your behaviour shouldn't impact on other people having a good time Unfortunately, we've just got to keep on with these sort of operations until people get that message What extra police will you have on board over the next 48 hours? And I know you said entertainment precincts are the ones you're going to be focusing on But which parts of the state will have a greater presence? Well, it'll be every area that has any sort of significant entertainment precinct As you know, we have three drink safe precincts That's Fortitude Valley, Surface Paradise and Townsville But all of the areas around the state where there are entertainment precincts, nightclubs, hotels are trade late Every one of those places around the state will receive extra police attention We will have in excess of a thousand police will be on duty each night across the state And we'll see what results come from that extra policing presence Why the cooperation between the Australian and New Zealand police in this particular operation? And is there similarities in the kinds of problems that they're experiencing across the town? The reason this comes out of the commissioners from Australia and New Zealand Meet regularly under the ANSPA Forum And this was a decision by all of the police commissioners that they wanted to focus on this issue And highlight it periodically to the community That this is an issue that the community needs to deal with So as a whole, as a collective, the police commissioners in Australia and New Zealand Decided on Operation United as a response And this is the fifth time, as I said The fact that we need to keep having it Would indicate that the community needs to be constantly reinforced on the message That alcohol, fuel, violence in public places won't be tolerated And it needs to be reduced What were the figures like last May when you held the last for Brooklyn and New Zealand and what you had before this weekend? Sure, in May when we had it there were 287 arrests 19 of those were for assault We had 140 arrests for drink driving And there were 186 liquor infringement notices issued Now, as in May this time round we're going to have extra general duties police around We're going to use the mounted unit that will be police dogs We'll have covert police inside licensed premises Looking for both drug activity and licensing breaches And there will be a very significant emphasis on RBT's and drink driving So last Operation United we did nearly 10,000 RBT's We'll do similar numbers this time round Thanks for your attention Thank you