Sunshine Coast police congratulate public on outstanding NYE behaviour

Despite the tremendous job emergency services face every New Year’s Eve, Sunshine Coast police arrested half the number of partygoers compared to the previous year.

Sunshine Coast District Officer, Superintendent Craig Hawkins at a press conference outside Kawana Waters Police Station.

Sunshine Coast police have welcomed the new year with an outstanding outcome after arresting half the amount of partygoers compared to last year in the region.

Sunshine Coast District Officer, Superintendent Craig Hawkins said on January 1 that behaviour of New Year’s Eve partygoers across the Sunshine Coast was “very good”.

“For the Sunshine Coast, this year we saw pretty close to half the number of arrests we saw the previous year and most of the behaviour was around alcohol,” he said.

Given the celebrations, he labelled partying Sunshine Coast residents as “outstanding”.

Those arrested were mostly charged with public nuisances offences, obstructing police or traffic related offences.

Of 260 roadside breath tests conducted across the Sunshine Coast, only one single drug driver was intercepted by police, Superintendent Hawkins said.

He contributed this year’s results to a combination of police enforcement and the community heeding the warning against dangerous behaviour.

“That’s a wonderful outcome for the state of Queensland,” he said.

He noted the respectful behaviour certainly made the job easier and more enjoyable for emergency service workers who gave up their time to keep the community safe while others were partying.

“Last night was a tremendous night for Queensland, it was a tremendous night for us and we are certainly grateful to the public for the way they acted,” Superintendent Hawkins said.

He noted the lack of midnight fireworks did not greatly affect the amount of people out celebrating, with this year’s events being “family-oriented”.