Hunter New England Director of Population Health Dr John Wiggers has been awarded by NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney, the Commissioner’s Certificate of Merit.

Commissioner Moroney made the decision to award Dr Wiggers the Certificate of Merit, in recognition of the outstanding contribution to the reduction of crime in NSW through the development of the Alcohol Linking Program.

The Certificate of Merit is the highest level of award the Commissioner can give to a civilian for a non-bravery related activity or effort.

Commissioner Moroney presented the award to Dr Wiggers in Sydney today.

The Alcohol Linking Program began in the Hunter region more than a decade ago as a collaboration between local police and the Population Health Unit.

Reductions in alcohol crime of approximately 13 per cent were achieved, results which were repeated in further trials across rural NSW.

In partnership with NSW Police, between 2002 and 2006 Dr Wiggers and his team led the implementation of the program into routine practice by all police in NSW.

Dr Wiggers said he was honoured to receive the award from the NSW Police Force.

"This award demonstrates the real capacity for government departments and agencies to work together and make a real difference in the community."

"A remarkable degree of trust and mutual respect underpinned the success of the work we did."

"This just shows that local action and ideas can lead to major system improvements that benefit not just our local community but benefit the broader state," he said.

"Health has an interest in community safety and the police also have that interest – so we brought our joint resources together to do something mutually beneficial."

 Background on the Alcohol Linking Program

Excessive alcohol consumption contributes substantially to harm, including crime. In NSW, almost half of all alcohol is sold through licensed premises. Under the NSW Liquor Act, licensees are prohibited from supplying alcohol to intoxicated patrons or allowing intoxicated persons onto their premises.

However, evidence shows that some licensees continue to allow such activity. Using the data from the Alcohol Linking Program as intelligence, police link alcohol-related incidents to intoxication on specific licensed premises.

The data are used to inform and educate licensees of their responsibilities, the consequences of intoxication on their premises and to enhance routine police enforcement strategies.

The aim of the project is to reduce harm associated with alcohol consumption on licensed premises. Its objectives are to:

Police routinely ask the following questions of all people involved in incidents they attend:

Information from these questions is entered into the NSW Police computer system, monitored for quality and analysed to identify premises whose intoxicated patrons become involved in police–attended incidents.

All licensees receive a letter informing them of the program; those linked to incidents receive a report of the incidents and those that demonstrate a trend of incidents involving high levels of intoxication receive a covert audit and follow up visits by police.