Local police could be open to criticism, including allegations of favouritism, if a proposal to grant extended hours to Queenstown bars as a reward for operating responsibly went ahead, Acting Duty Sergeant, Constable Craig Gibson, said.
The comment came in response to a proposal made by the director of Good Group, Russell Gray, to reward licensed premises with extended trading hours for performing responsibly.
The idea was rejected by Const Gibson, who said if the correct boundaries were not set the police would be open to accusations of bias from local operators.
"The behaviour of people we see between the hours of 2am and 6am is routinely disgusting," Const Gibson said.
"The concept of rewarding should perhaps be investigated, but the reward should not be longer operating hours, he said.
On Monday night, Mr Gray told more than 80 people at an alcohol reform public forum in the Queenstown Memorial Hall he believed responsible operators should be rewarded.
"The general view is that there does need to be some change.
"Responsible operators should be left to operate and we should reward those who operate well with longer hours," Mr Gray said.
Last month, Queenstown Senior Sergeant John Fookes issued a repeat call for 2am bar closing throughout the resort and said the availability of alcohol in the early hours was a major cause of alcohol-related crime.
In discussing the option of earlier closing times, Mr Gray expressed doubt longer trading hours were linked to higher crime rates.
"There is no evidence of a spike in violent offences at 4am as the police might say.
"The police appear to be blindly focused on why they want to change closing hours but most offences occur much earlier," Mr Gray said.
Speaking at the forum in regard to the same issue, Snr Sgt Fookes said, "The longer someone is drinking, the more intoxicated they become.
"If we look back to the time when the 24-hour licence was in place most of the serious offences that took place were incidents between late night drinkers and the early morning workers."
Details of the Alcohol Reform Bill are expected to be made public in mid-October and submissions are likely to considered by the Justice and Electoral Select Committee in November.
