Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Sydney Cops : Alcohol, Not Drugs, Is The Biggest Crime-Related Threat To Community

A stunning quote from a cop on a reality of life fighting crime in Sydney :
"The majority of our work is alcohol related..."
All those cops, all that training, all that money, all that paperwork, and most of their time is spent trying to stop drunk people from smashing the shit out of each other. Alcohol-related violence is not a minority crime. It is the majority of all crimes today in Australia. We are an alcohol-soaked country, and we get hammered and abuse and beat each other into hospitals, or police cells, at rates that regularly rank high in world rankings.

A War On Alcohol, according to Sydney police, is overdue. But that's probably a bit too Taliban-esque for Australians.

"You can take our lives, but you will never take our Bundy & Cokes!"

Then again, we do have laws in Sydney now that allow police, and 'deputised' volunteers, to harass, search, question and arrest people for being "annoying."

So nothing's off the table right now.