15 February 2011

Festival crowd gets a tick

15 February 2011 | By johnboy

With a crowd estimated around 240,000 for the three day event, ACT Policing is praising the majority of people who attended the Multicultural Festival, with only three people taken into custody during the celebrations.

Sergeant John Foster from the Alcohol Crime Targeting Team (ACTT) said earlier work undertaken by his team to inform the ‘off site licencees’ of their responsibilities, was one of the aims of the ACTT.

“We (the ACTT) spoke to the liquor permit holders and informed them of their obligations in relation to the responsible service of alcohol. This goes directly to some of the aims of the ACTT which are to reduce the negative community effects of alcohol related harm and to encourage safe and responsible drinking practices,” he said.

Police were also pleased that no underage drinkers were detected at the festival and that no major issues occurred.

“One of ACT Policing’s aims with an event of this size is to ensure that families attending an event are not be subjected to anti-social behaviour, especially the behaviour of people under the influence of alcohol,” Sergeant Foster said.

“The ACTT will continue its work with both internal and external stakeholders to ensure compliance across the ACT Liquor industry through education, partnerships and capacity building to make an impact on alcohol-related crime and irresponsible service and consumption of alcohol,” he said.

[Courtesy ACT Policing]

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Diggety3:02 pm 15 Feb 11

mfbpc68 said :

That’s why RSA courses are so important. Every staff member at that festival serving alcohol, should have had an RSA certificate. I know because I run these courses (shameless plug http://www.rsa-courses.com.au😉 When you do a decent RSA course, you learn when to refuse service and how to do it safely. This is absolutely essential training. Another thing you learn is to communicate with nearby venues so a patron refused by you doesn’t just go to the next venue and get served.

I have to disagree with you there mfbpc68.

Legal requirements were the ONLY reason I and others in the course were undertaking.

The RSA is a few “now sing it back to me” bleeding obvious statements, mixed with spot the difference diagrams. All simple common sense (which is, in fact common).

The RSA shifts liability. That’s about it.

P.S. By communicating with nearby venues, do you mean, like, talking?

Diggety2:55 pm 15 Feb 11

p1 said :

The queue to get some Ethiopian food at lunch on Sat was moving a little slow, but that guy asked along the line to check if anyone needed a beer while they were waiting. Now that’s what I call service!

That is AWESOME service.

Davo1112:48 pm 15 Feb 11

Oh, no, RSA is a double edged sword.

– price of alcohol exponentially increases
– cost of basics like water and soft drink exponentially increase

Just look at sydney.

Oh, and before i get lectured, yeah i have a valid RSA from NSW.

Kerryhemsley2:38 pm 15 Feb 11

“One of ACT Policing’s aims with an event of this size is to ensure that families attending an event are not be subjected to anti-social behaviour, especially the behaviour of people under the influence of alcohol,” Sergeant Foster said.

The diversity of food (i.e not Maccas and KFC) and the multicultural entertainment probably puts a lot of the idiots off.

FashionPeacock2:03 pm 15 Feb 11

Would have been nice to see more places to get free water, given the amount of alcohol being served.

p11:56 pm 15 Feb 11

The queue to get some Ethiopian food at lunch on Sat was moving a little slow, but that guy asked along the line to check if anyone needed a beer while they were waiting. Now that’s what I call service!

mfbpc681:23 pm 15 Feb 11

That’s why RSA courses are so important. Every staff member at that festival serving alcohol, should have had an RSA certificate. I know because I run these courses (shameless plug http://www.rsa-courses.com.au😉 When you do a decent RSA course, you learn when to refuse service and how to do it safely. This is absolutely essential training. Another thing you learn is to communicate with nearby venues so a patron refused by you doesn’t just go to the next venue and get served.