Happy Easter

Good Friday has been and gone and I have just got in from work. It's 4.30am here in the Northern Territory and there is a beautiful Full Moon out.

Now when we hear 'full moon' as nurses we think BUSY!  Usually speaking for whatever reason (myth or reality) hospital beds would fill up quickly on those nights.  So I went to work at the police cells expecting much the same given the fact it was a public holiday also.

However, the cells had only one person in them all night.  A person who was actually brought in the day before.  So not one person was brought in for protective custody or arrested.  Why???  Well, that is easy to answer.  There was NO alcohol for sale today.  Yes, it's as simple as that!  Amazing!!  There is definitely a case for prohibition!!

As the alcohol restrictions in Katherine mean people can only purchase one bottle of wine a day, (though most people get around that by visiting different outlets, as they don't keep a record) they consume the alcohol when they get it.  And consume it they do.  Bottle stores open at 2pm and the first people are brought in at around 4pm.  In Katherine you don't have to be drunk to be brought in, as just consuming alcohol in a public place is an offence.  Though those people usually get bailed straight away and will often go straight back out drinking only to be brought back again the same night.

Policing in Katherine, as the Senior Sergent explained, is all about assault (generally domestic) and alcohol. Take away the alcohol and there is no real crime, other than petty stealing.  As they don't have the criminal or gang element like in New Zealand, crime is very different.  They break into cars for coins and leave the stereo.  There just are no gangs as such here to on-sell stuff to and as aborigine's don't value possessions they have no need to do burglaries or robberies.

But they do drink!!  For many currently in the Katherine area they have just received their royalties from the gold mines here, in which they get around $1.5m to give out to 600 or so people.  Some people get a lot more and some a lot less. It means they have heaps of money to buy cars, and have a constant stream of alcohol until the money runs out. Then they can't afford the cars and they are left on the side of the road ruined.  Possessions just don't matter to them so it's 'easy come, easy go'.

Anyway, happy Easter everyone!! Off to bed now :)