ACT Police: improvement in underage drinking at Skyfire
ACT Police has praised crowds for good behavior at Canberra’s annual SkyFire event in March, after only one minor being taken to the Woden Police Station.
The annual event, run by FM104.7, is held across the North and South sides of Lake Burley Griffin has been a notorious hotspot for underage drinking.
ACT Police started cracking down on minors at the event after 2011 when they took 30 underage people into custody for alcohol related offences.
Last year’s event saw eight minors taken in which makes this year’s event over an 80% decrease and families are thankful for it.
Amanda, a mother of three has been attending Skyfire for the past 15 years and praises the efforts of authorities.
“There used to be a real problem, it just makes it so unpleasant when you have young kids and you have to worry about teenagers ruining it…this year was good though”. She said.
“I think it comes down to a lot of police presence. Everywhere I looked I saw them and that’s sure to stop people drinking so much”.
Whilst families felt safer near the edge of the water, there are worries that the event has just moved the problem on to another location rather than putting a stop to underage drinking.
Phil Smith, an SES worker at Skyfire, suggests that having more police tends to push drinking teenagers to the outer edges of the event where they are more prone to getting hurt.
“It’s the culture of drinking more than anything…kids these days don’t just have one or two…there has to be some kind of prevention method there”.
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