The head of Clubs ACT says the territory's pubs and clubs were kept in the dark about changes to an alcohol crime force that patrolled the city's licensed venues.
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Chief executive Jeff House has lashed out at ''an increasingly arrogant and isolationist approach'' from ACT Policing after Fairfax Media revealed at the weekend that police chiefs had quietly merged the alcohol task force with the city's beat police to fill a dangerous shortfall in staff.
Mr House has also attacked the ACT government for ''slugging'' licensees with massive fee increases to pay for the task force but then allowing for the amalgamation to occur without notifying the industry.
''It's fair to say we are furious,'' Mr House said. ''It's just an appalling decision. The government just sees the hospitality sector as a source of revenue.''
Fairfax Media reported on Saturday that police chiefs had ''tolerated'' dangerously low staff numbers in the territory's city beats police teams, despite written complaints from officers every month for two years.
Police management responded this month by merging the beats teams with the alcohol crime squad, which was established in 2010 under new liquor laws and partly funded by pubs and clubs through higher fees.
The ACT budget in June cut $15 million over four years from ACT Policing.
The alcohol task force was set up to curb alcohol-related violence and funding the squad led the fees for some venues to rise to more than $10,000 under a risk-based licensing scheme.
''When the community and the industry have a clear and well-established interest in the issue of alcohol-related incidents and police resourcing, it is totally unacceptable for such a decision to be made without consultation or even an announcement,'' Mr House said.
ACT Policing defended its failure to consult or inform the industry about the merger of the two units.
''The merging of the two teams was an operational decision within ACT Policing,'' a spokeswoman said.
The police spokeswoman said the licensed premises would have the same level of services through the regional targeting team.
''The team will not be restricted solely to the CBD but will routinely patrol licensed premises and entertainment precincts throughout the ACT,'' the spokeswoman said.
Mike Dawn, the licensee of the Civic Pub and the Uni Pub, said the presence of the liquor squad had made Canberra's licensed venues safer.
''It was their job to regulate the industry and get out on the beat on the busy nights and actually have a presence in the clubs, targeting alcohol crime and intoxication,'' he said. ''My concern is they've disbanded or amalgamated the team and we're now back to a normal city beats team.''
Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson said ''this is a disgraceful situation worsened by deceitful alterations to crime prevention''.
''We're calling on the government to reinstate the alcohol crime taskforce, retain numbers in the city beat, stop robbing Peter to pay Paul and properly fund our police force,'' he said.