Eyes on the dancefloor

Editorial: Lane Mihaljevic

Senior Sergeant David Sheppard and his team of plainclothes police know more about Victoria’s nightlife than most.

Having visited some of the state’s most well-known bars, pubs and clubs, members of the State Liquor Unit are what some might call seasoned partygoers.

But they’re out and about for good reason.

The State Liquor Unit, which first started out as a taskforce in 2008, aims to reduce risks associated with licensed premises through early intervention.

“Our number one goal is to help keep patrons safe,” Sen Sgt Sheppard said.

“To achieve this, we visit a wide range of licensed venues across the state all year round, with the aim of identifying and preventing offences related to liquor licence non-compliance.

“But we don’t target a venue without reason.”

The State Liquor Unit provides specialist skills to support Local Area Commanders, managers, and operational members in policing of the liquor industry.

The unit uses a variety of intelligence tools to identify locations that cause, or have been associated with, risks such as violence, sexual assault and drink-spiking.

Once a venue has been identified as a location of interest, Sen Sgt Sheppard sends a team of plainclothes police officers out to investigate.

“This is one of the most important parts of our work,” Sen Sgt Sheppard said.

“It’s our opportunity to confirm if offending is taking place and gather evidence where possible.

“If our officers observe any harmful behaviour or activity, we can intervene immediately and take action to prevent further incidents.”

The next crucial step for the unit is discussing the issues with venue management.

“If people are getting assaulted at a licensed venue every weekend, there’s a good chance the venue managers or licensees are aware of it,” Sen Sgt Sheppard said.

“If they’re not aware, we can speak to them about why the harmful behaviour might be occurring and what they can do to prevent it.”

“But if they are aware, we obviously need to step in – because they’re not managing well enough.”

Sen Sgt Sheppard stressed that venue managers ‘set the standard’, just like they do in any other workplace.

“If a manager allows harmful behaviour in the workplace, then the work environment can become toxic,” Sen Sgt Sheppard said.

“But if a manager follows the rules and does the right thing by employees, customers and the like, the work environment is positive and the chance of harmful behaviour occurring is slim.”

It’s an analogy that Sen Sgt Sheppard and his team use frequently when dealing with managers and licensees, but it’s not always well received.

“Managers often tell us that you can’t apply the theory to licensed venues,” Sen Sgt Sheppard said.

“But that’s just not the case.

“If a manager hasn’t told their staff and crowd controllers to keep an eye out for patrons who are intoxicated, that’s clearly problematic.”

Sen Sgt Sheppard’s officers couldn’t agree more, having seen the consequences of intoxication first-hand.

“A patron who’s intoxicated is significantly more likely to cause trouble or commit an offence than a patron who’s sober,” one plainclothes officer said.

“This is why it’s so important managers tell their staff and crowd controllers to ‘cut those patrons off’ or escort them out of the venue.

“While working with venue management to resolve these issues can be time-consuming, it’s absolutely necessary. It’s the only way to ensure they understand the potential impact of their inaction.”

Conversations with venue management can also help police determine whether there’s anything else going on behind the scenes.

However, on the occasions when licensed venues are suspected to be engaging in serious criminal activity, the State Liquor Unit is forced to rely on intelligence, research and evidence.

“Operations where we’re tasked with identifying and cracking-down on venues engaged in crime such as sex trafficking, drug trade or the purchase of counterfeit alcohol are definitely more complex,” Sen Sgt Sheppard said.

“It’s on these occasions that we partner with other Victoria Police work units, such as the Sex Industry Coordination Unit or the Public Order Response Team.

“We also communicate with external agencies like Work Safe, to make sure they’re aware of any potential risk to employees.”

While Sen Sgt Sheppard knows the unit’s presence at licensed venues might come as a surprise to many, he wanted to make one thing clear.

“We’re not the fun police,” he said.

“We just want people to be able to go out and have a good time without fear of being affected by severely intoxicated individuals or other criminal activity.”

Like so many other Victoria Police work units, the sole purpose of the State Liquor Unit is to keep members of the public safe – particularly as Victoria heads into a summer without COVID-related restrictions.

“You’ll be out on a Friday night and won’t even know we’re there,” Sen Sgt Sheppard said.

“But that’s okay with me, because that’s how we do our best work."