‘Horrible’ video of fights and attacks shows Queenstown’s problem of violence

CCTV footage showing people fighting in downtown Queenstown has shocked local police and councilors.

Police will not release the five-minute compilation video to the public.

A Queenstown police officer says drug damage is “through the roof” and warns that the resort town is “one shot away” from another CBD death.

Sgt. Chris Brooks showed the video to Mayor Jim Boult and the district councilors, and Boult is so outraged that he is forming a stakeholder group to find solutions to end the violence fueled by alcohol and drugs.

He described the video as “horrifying”.

“Seeing people kicking other people’s heads and hitting bottles on people’s heads and one person holding another while someone else beats them … I was disgusted that an activity like that is taking place in our city.

“The CCTV images don’t lie … it’s all very well to say ‘it’s not us’ but it’s happening in our city.

“We need to do something about it.”

Brooks says the weekly fights are not a side of Queenstown that anyone can be proud of and, for police, “it is not a problem that we are going to stop arrests from.”

“That’s the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff; it already happened if we make the arrest, you’ve already hurt someone, and we don’t take care of that.

“It’s about stopping it.”

Brooks says there has been a significant increase in assaults in public places in Queenstown since 2016, and they are becoming more severe.

He warns that “we are only one stroke away” from another death, such as that of Queenstown man Mark Smith on November 19, 2009.

UK-born Paul Richards was later found guilty of the manslaughter of the 47-year-old man and sentenced to two years in prison.

That night, Richards was seriously intoxicated when he assaulted Smith at the Camp St taxi rank, punching Smith in the neck, causing a tear in an artery and, as a result, fatal bleeding.

Today, Brooks says alcohol is part of the problem, which is why police are promoting public alcohol bans, such as the one implemented after Box Day 2016, which has caused antisocial behavior to almost disappear, at least for the hours of the day.

This week, police pushed for the Christmas ban on alcoholic beverages to be extended to cover Christmas Day to stamp out the hundreds of drinkers who flock to Queenstown beach for an “orphan” party. That was discussed yesterday by the Queenstown Lakes District Council, where councilors agreed to the proposal.

But, Brooks says, drugs also play a role in Wakatipu.

While bar and security staff are “doing their best” to prevent drugs from entering the premises, there are people in the community who are targeting bars to “run their own business.”

On Wednesday afternoon, six people appeared in Queenstown court charged in the previous 24 hours in connection with supplying controlled Class A, B and C drugs.

It follows several other arrests for similar crimes in recent months.

“Drug damage is a problem for many New Zealand cities and Queenstown is no exception,” says Brooks.

“We have visits from organized crime; we are also seeing more elements of that type.”

Boult says it is not a problem that the police or city council can solve on their own.

“It is a community problem and requires the effort of the community and the acceptance of the community to find a solution.

“We need to find a way to end this.”

It is in the process of forming a group of stakeholders, which is expected to meet early next year, including representatives from the hotel industry, social agencies and youth to “brainstorm” to make Queenstown safer after dark.

“I’m not saying we have an answer, but we are determined to try to do something about it.

“I think we have to be careful that we still understand that for most law abiding people, Queenstown and Wanaka are still safe after dark.

“But there is an element in there that is determined to wreak havoc and what worries me is that some innocent bystander will end up seriously injured, or maybe even perish, as a result.”

Post-lockdown violence

A Queenstown security manager says there has been a “huge” increase in violence in Queenstown since the lockdown ended in May.

Allied Security Central Otago Operations Manager Stuart Mountain says that in the nine-odd years he’s called the resort home, “this is definitely one of the worst I’ve seen.”

“We have seen a huge, huge increase in violence, especially against security, and boss-to-boss violence, not necessarily within places, but especially on the streets.

“We are all fighting an uphill battle.”

Mountain says he was hit on the head and spat on last month by a potential customer who had been denied entry because he was drunk.

One of his employees was spat on last Saturday for the same reason.

“It’s disgusting. We have seen a sharp increase in the amount of violence in Queenstown since we came out of lockdown, 100 percent.”

Mountain thinks part of the problem is that Kiwis come to the resort on a weekend thinking “we can get away with it.”

Most tourists realize that their visa may be at risk if they are arrested, he says.

“But the kiwis don’t really care.”

He says the security staff at Allied and October Protection deal with it “every weekend” and agree that drugs are becoming a growing problem, particularly substances like MDMA that have been mixed with another thing.

Their staff are trained to conduct drug use tests, and that has worked well so far.

But Mountain believes that putting some additional security measures at domestic airports, including the Queenstown airport, for example, making use of the drug sniffing dogs typically used for international services, would be a good start.

“A lot of people who come to the city are flying through the airport … if we can get them [using the dogs] directly at the airport … I think we will definitely see a strong absorption of confiscated drugs. “

– Mountain scene