South Australia Police across the state kept a watchful eye as the community celebrated and farewelled the end of what has been a challenging year.
SA Police thanks the public for helping make New Year’s Eve 2022 a generally peaceful event and maintaining a high level of cooperation with police throughout the evening.
The warm weather drew big crowds around the coastal areas and the Adelaide Oval saw a crowd of approximately 40,000 people at the Big Bash League match where the Adelaide Strikers took on the Melbourne Stars.
Police had a highly visible presence around New Year’s celebrations, targeting anti-social and disorderly behaviour in particular.
Assistant Commissioner, Metropolitan Operations Service, Scott Duval said, “It was good to see the majority of people out enjoying themselves and acting responsibly. There were some who did not, and many offences involved alcohol or drug use.”
Overall there were 89 people arrested across the state and 57 people reported for offences including behavioural, traffic and drug possession.
A total of 171 traffic expiation notices were issued and 179 general expiation notices were issued for offences including possession of drugs, possessing or consuming alcohol in a dry zone and behavioural offences.
Over 5600 drivers were tested for drugs and alcohol with 35 positive results to alcohol and 11 positive drug tests.
The highest recorded drink driving results over the operation was a positive result of 0.176 from a static driver testing station at Seacliff Park.
