Adelaide’s late night lockout laws may be tightened further if South Australia’s Police Commissioner gets his way, it has been revealed.

In a move sure to frustrate but perhaps not surprise many clubgoers, Police Commissioner Gary Burns has gone on record saying strips like Hindley Street would benefit from the current 3am lock out being brought forward by an hour, pre-empting the release of an independent report into the efficacy of the Late Night Code. “Personally, I’d take the lockout one more hour back, to 2 o’clock,” he told a Parliamentary Committee. The comments were made before State Parliament’s Crime and Public Integrity Committee meeting two months ago on March 27, and were picked up by The Advertiser this morning.

When asked by Family First MLC Robert Brokenshire for an update on the 3am lockout laws in place since October 2013 and whether a revision to 1am or 2am would offer improvements, Burns offered anecdotal evidence to support the current rules and suggest they be stepped up. “We know the lockout has made a difference,” he said. “I haven’t got the statistics, but I would think it is around about the 10 to 15 per cent mark in terms of drops in assaults and disorderly types of offences that people deal with”. In April last year Attorney-General John Rau reported a drop in crime of almost 20 per cent since the introduction of the laws, with 4742 offences recorded between October 2013 and March 2014 compared to 5863 the previous year.

Clamping down on pre-drinking

According to Burns, violence and anti-social behaviour still seen on our streets is partially due to a culture of pre-drinking before heading in to traditional clubs and pubs. By revising the lockout to 2am, Burns’ strategy would force revellers to enter the city earlier to still make the most of an evening, reducing the window for them to “pre-load” on alcohol before heading in. “The way you look at it is, generally, young people go out for entertainment for around about a six-hour period,” he said. “When you had closures of clubs at around 2 o’clock in the morning (and we are talking sometime in the past), most would be out by about 8 o’clock at night to 2 o’clock and go home.”

Unsurprisingly, Burns’ comments have received a wave of backlash from venues and patrons alike. Many are echoing the same criticisms heard since the ban’s effects first started being felt, particularly the effect of the blanket ban on venues with a late night focus and/or no history of violence. “Being more of a late-night venue meant that our hours of pumping trade decreased,” Phil Rogers, owner of now-closed venue Cuckoo, told Rip It Up in March. “With no history of violent behaviour in over six years of trade, it was an unfair blanket rule.”

Burns however remains nonplussed about venues’ concerns.“[In] my view, winding it back one more hour, the traders might not like it but I’m not really worried about their profits: I’m more worried about the safety of the community,” he said.

Burns also acknowledged the role of other initiatives introduced concurrently with the lockout in reducing incidents, including greater security requirements CCTV and lighting. These extra measures are something which critics of the policy like Australian Hotels Association General Manager Ian Horne have previously credited with the reductions in crime often attributed to the lockouts. “Lock-out laws of course are only effective if adequate police resources are applied,” Horne told Rip It Up in March. “Ironically, those same additional policing resources are, in our opinion, the main reason for the welcome drop in alcohol-and drug-fuelled violence. The lock out is the political window dressing.”

Review of Late Night Code still pending

But don’t buy a pair of slippers and a Netflix subscription just yet – Burns’ offhand comments are a still a long way off becoming official policy. An independent review into the Late Night Trading Code is currently being undertaken by the Internal Consultancy Services Group, with the final report due to be delivered to the Government and Parliament by the middle of the year. Rip It Up contacted SA Police in March for the latest statistics on the reduction of alcohol-fuelled crime and the overall drop in crowd numbers coming into the city, but they could not comment while the report is being compiled.

On March 9 the State Government completed a period of consultation to seek feedback on the lock out laws from the general public. However given Burns’ strong statements on the matter and SA Police’s own contribution to the review, South Australian patrons and venues alike will undoubtedly be bracing themselves for the review’s findings.

Until then? We wait.

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