A lower rate of arrests on New Year’s Eve this year has sparked a praise to revellers by Victoria Polic but a warning by the Deputy Commissioner that it’s “still too many”.
356 people were arrested on Monday night, including 240 arrests of drunk people, with the Deputy Commissioner Tim Cartwright adding this was an improvement on the 400 arrests of drunk people in 2010.
”It’s good to see that we’ve had some improvement,” Mr Cartwright said.
Officers made 182 arrests for assaults and recorded 55 drink-driving offences. Ambulance Victoria was extremely busy after midnight, attending violent incidents including glassings and assaults. A 22-year-old man in Melbourne suffered burns to his forearm and hand when fireworks he was holding exploded.
The police blitz of Melbourne’s CBD resulted in 39 drunk and 17 assault arrests, out of an estimated 550,000 people watching city fireworks.
Source: The Age
