Police commander calls on pub proprietors to do more to stop violence

The Acting Superintendent of Oxley Local Area Command, Jeff Budd, says licensees need to do their bit to curb alcohol-fuelled violence in the Tamworth CBD.

Last weekend, a 37-year-old man was allegedly king-hit by a 20-year-old outside a Tamworth pub and is now in a serious condition at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle.

Acting Superintendent Budd says it was one of several serious assaults that night, and followed a number of incidents in the CBD following the running of the Melbourne Cup.

He says licensed premises need to take a bigger role in helping minimise the attacks.

"I think licensees try hard, but what I'm proposing for Tamworth is we have the tools to make it better and safer," he said.

"We're prepared to be there and go with them but we need a leader from industry to come on board and take some ownership."

Jeff Budd says the introduction of linked ID scanning technology across all licensed premises would have an impact on alcohol-fuelled crimes.

He says the scanning technology could be linked across multiple premises, which would go a long way to solving the problem.

"It's that flow on, that migration of trouble from pub to pub to pub that we're seeing," he said.

"We have evidence of that which we can produce, as recently as Melbourne Cup night, when brawling parties went from one pub to another pub."

ABC News contacted the Chairman of the Tamworth and District Liquor Accord for comment.

Our calls were not returned.

Source: ABC News, 15 November 2013