Making the central city safer at the weekend is the goal of a City Council decision to look at banning the carrying or drinking of alcohol in public in the area on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

The ban would apply on those days from 7pm to 7am the following morning and would give police officers the power to arrest people who refuse to follow their instructions and take away any alcohol they have in the area.

In every case, officers would first give people a chance to take away the alcohol. The ban would not apply to licensed premises, including outside bar areas, or to people who are carrying alcohol for a restaurant meal or to a home in the area.

Police asked the Council to apply the ban to all the Central City inside the four avenues to the east of Hagley Park. That is the area bordered by Bealey, Fitzgerald and Moorhouse avenues to the north, east and south respectively and, in the west, the streets running along Hagley Park’s eastern edge — Hagley and Rolleston avenues and Park Terrace.

People wanting to let the Council know what they think of the idea have until 5pm on Monday 16 December to put pen to paper or send in an email. Submissions can be sent to Council Secretary Max Robertson at PO Box 237, Christchurch; emailed to him at max.robertson@ccc.govt.nz or made through the Council’s www.ccc.govt.nz/HaveYourSay/ website.

The City Council will meet again on 20 December to consider people’s opinions and make a final decision on whether to bring in the ban.

Christchurch Police Inspector David Lawry believes the ban could make a big improvement in actual public safety and to people’s feelings about how safe the central city is. His staff estimate that up to 80 per cent of disorder offences involve people who have been drinking. The Police proposal is along similar lines to successful bans in Auckland and other cities, says Inspector Lawry. It would give police officers the right to tell people they are not allowed to be drinking or carrying alcohol in public places within central city.

“It’s not about arresting hundreds of people,” Inspector Lawry told City Councillors last month. “It’s mainly about education, telling people that it’s not appropriate to be wandering the streets drinking.

“Even if they’re behaving themselves, a lot of people find that frightening and bottles and glasses can, and sometimes are, used as weapons.”

The central city already is a safe area for people, he says, and the ban would complement other schemes being run by the Police, Council and other agencies and help make it even safer.

“You’ve got more than 60,000 people coming in and out every day and fewer than 20 violence or disorder offences,” Inspector Lawry says. “That means a very low probability of being involved in crime, but I think this scheme could cut that small number of offences by as much as a fifth, so it’s worth doing.”

Just as important, he says, is its likely effect on people’s perception of central city safety. “This is a safe area and this partnership with the Council will help us persuade more people that that’s so.”

• Have Your Say: People wanting to let the Council know what they think of the proposed ban have until 5pm on Monday 16 December to put pen to paper or send in an email. Submissions can be sent to Council Secretary Max Robertson at PO Box 237, Christchurch; emailed to him at Max.Robertson@ccc.govt.nzor made through the Council’s www.ccc.govt.nz/HaveYourSay/ website.