Police say their opposition to the sale of single-serve high-octane alcohol will continue, despite failing to prevent sales at a Dunedin supermarket.
Pak’nSave Dunedin, in Hillside Rd, had its liquor licence renewed in a seven-page decision by Dunedin’s district licensing committee.
Police opposed the renewal and sought a condition prohibiting the sale of single-serve beer, cider or RTDs in containers 500ml or less, excluding craft beer.
Such a condition would force customers to purchase multi-packs of alcohol, which would allow them to consume several units of alcohol compared to a single unit, it said.
Despite this outcome, alcohol harm prevention officer Sergeant Steve Jones, of Dunedin, said this would not dissuade police from going after other licensees.
"Pak’nSave was a surprising decision, especially in relation to its location and the deprivation in the area and the amount of harm we see that comes from alcohol in that area.
"At the end of the day, it just shows that we’re going to have to assert our efforts and keep providing good quality evidence that we’re putting forward," Sgt Jones said.
Each application police opposed was individually assessed on the deprivation of the area, location, product type and clientele, Sgt Jones said.
Price point was another factor, especially at supermarkets.
"One thing that I have definitely noticed is that those products, particularly the single-sale cans of high-strength beer, are generally cheaper within a supermarket context."
Regarding selling single-serve alcohol stopping people from buying larger packs instead, Sgt Jones said this was a consideration but not something police agreed with.
He respected the decisions of the licensing committee, but the police’s approach to minimising harm had not changed, he said.
"When police’s case is solely focused on harm and the minimisation of harm, then we hope that the licensing committee’s decision is aligned with that, but at the end of the day, if they deem evidentially to be submitted insufficiencies in police’s case then that’s their decision and I respect that.
"Just because we’ve had a couple of differing decisions over the last couple of weeks doesn’t necessarily mean that the trajectory has changed."
Following the hearing for Countdown’s licence last Friday, Sgt Jones has until next Monday to submit police’s closure in writing before a decision can be made.
