The Campus Cop told a flat on Agnew Street that they could face criminal charges and be expelled from the University if they hosted a party in their flat.
The Campus Constable, John Woodhouse, emailed one of the flatmates on 7 August stating that “the holders of such an event may be liable for prosecution under the Sale of Liquor Act for providing a place of resort”.
Woodhouse was referring to section 235 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act, which has been around since 1910 and makes it illegal to operate a “place of resort” (i.e. a party or gathering where people bring their own alcohol). The police can choose who to prosecute under that section.
“I do not wish to see that happen as it would set a precedent for other student parties which do not present the same level of risk as Agnew Street such as O week and Re-O week which I am very much in favour of,” said Woodhouse in the email. Woodhouse told Critic that he is not authorized to comment on this story.
One of the flatmates, Callum Steele-MacIntosh, emailed Woodhouse and said: “It's just rather difficult for me to understand why the police would be charging people for having a controlled party within a house, where no alcohol is supplied?”
“I cannot obviously tell you what to do in a private dwelling with invited guests,” Woodhouse replied. “I have asked that you do not hold a function on the dates where it could be reasonably perceived, that the event is the Agnew Street Party.”
“We told him: we’re not having a street party, we’re gonna have a flat party, none of it will be on the street,” Callum told Critic. “It’s pretty common sense if there’s a whole street party you can’t control dangers which is why no street party was going to take place.”
It appears that Woodhouse believed the event was the Agnew Street Party despite what the flatmates told him. “Should you proceed with an event, then you will have no way of controlling the many hundreds of first years, outsiders and others from descending onto Agnew Street,” Woodhouse said in his email. “Due to the expediential [sic] size increase of this event, it is now a very real risk that a student will suffer serious injury or death as a result of this event taking place.”
Woodhouse told the hosts that they might breach the University’s Code of Conduct. “Should you hold a party where the Code of Conduct is not upheld then you are placing your futures at the University at risk,” he wrote. He also said that “in the light of the Sophia Charter being signed by the University and the OUSA, I will not stand by and see students’ lives be put at risk so you can have your street party.”
The Campus Constable knew about the party because the flatmates had contacted the University in July to ask for support and advice. At first, the flat had planned to host a larger party in collaboration with other flats on Agnew Street, but then “decided that [plan] wasn’t feasible and pretty much abandoned it”. They continued to email the Campus Cop about their plans to host a smaller, individual flat party in August and he continued to tell them that they were risking criminal charges.
“The Uni have made active efforts to say we will work with you and the police to make your parties safe, so instead of saying don’t have a party, they could say have a party just make sure it falls into these parameters,” said Callum. “That would have been much more effective.”
The Campus Constable also emailed Callum’s property manager at Edinburgh Realty and said: “As a responsible landlord and property manager, we ask that you convey the message to Callum and ask that he cancels any such events as planned for by this weekend as it will be perceived as the Agnew Street party.” He also cited “the commitment that the Otago Property Investors have made in Sophia’s Charter by seeking to reduce alcohol-related harm”.
“Over email, [the Campus Cop] never directly implied that he would get all flat parties shut down, or have us prosecuted,” said Callum. Callum claims that the only time he “clearly said that were in person”. “He seems to know the best way to intimidate and threaten while getting away with it.”
Callum’s lawyer began to email the police, and sent him the police guidance on the law that he said he would charge the flat with. “Thank you for providing me with Police’s own Policy concerning this matter,” Woodhouse replied. “I refer you to this document which reads ‘Police will work with organisers to ensure that any event is held safely and lawfully’. This is what I am attempting to achieve.”
“We were happy to work with the University for any changes they wanted us to make to the party,” said Callum. “And the response was ‘shut it down or we’ll get you arrested’.”
“He made the threat to us, he said that he would stop all student parties happening in Dunedin if we had a party. And I was like there’s no way you can do that and there’s no way the police would let you do that,” Callum said.
“Our staff on campus work together with students in their planning of parties to ensure that they are held safely, enjoyably and lawfully,” said Inspector Matenga Gray, the Area Commander Otago Coastal for the NZ Police. “Our staff provided advice to Mr Steele-MacIntosh that the party he intended to host may see his property deemed a place of resort under the Sale of Liquor Act, and concerns were expressed in regard to the opportunity for crowd numbers at the party to get quickly out of control.
“As Constable Woodhouse is employed by the Police, the University cannot and does not direct him in his dealings with students and the wider community,” said a spokesman for the University of Otago.
After Callum complained about the Campus Constable’s treatment of him, Acting Inspector Craig Dinissen took over the correspondence. “I am extremely concerned with the concept of an “Agnew Street” party albeit conceived as a singular flat dance party?” he wrote to Callum. “Ideally working with the collective to plan your private party post August would be the greatest agreement we could achieve.”
The Agnew Street Party was cancelled during a meeting in the Clocktower on 8 July, between the residents and emergency services. “[T]he University’s only involvement in the proposed event was to facilitate a conversation between organisers and stakeholders – primarily emergency and health services but also including OUSA – about the impact of the event on others,” said the University spokesman. “It is understood that Mr Steele-MacIntosh and his flatmates did not attend the discussion.”
“At the meeting and since then the other residents that attended have undertaken not to hold any party that replicates Agnew Street of past and definitely not any over the historical time of previous Agnew Street parties due to the potential risk posed by having an August party occur,” said Acting Inspector Craig Dinissen in his email to Callum.
“While it is not unreasonable to identify the risk of a party, even a private party, escalating to a larger event, such a risk should be mitigated collaboratively between residents and police without presuming such escalation is inevitable or by design,” said OUSA President Jack Manning.
“It only became a problem for me when I realised they were making threats, and how comfortable they were doing that, he’s definitely doing it to other people,” Callum said. “I didn’t want [the Campus Cop] to think that it was appropriate and it was going to happen with no pushback.”
President Jack, Inspector Gray from the Police and the spokesman from the University all said students should register their parties using the Good One party register.
If you don’t want your party to be potentially illegal:
The Campus Constable told the flatmates they could be charged under section 235 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act, which makes it illegal to use premises as a “place of resort” for guests to drink alcohol. In 2015, the host of a ticketed party at a house in Napier was prosecuted under the section when the party turned into a “brawl”.
To avoid the section, either become rich and provide alcohol to your guests for free, or use this legal loophole. A 2017 New Zealand Law Journal article titled “Places of resort for the consumption of alcohol” by Matthew Barber points out that it’s okay if you bring alcohol to a party and present it to the host as a gift. (He uses a bottle of wine at a dinner party as an example, but you can give gifts of alcohol at any kind of party, in Critic’s not-legally-verified opinion.) The host can then pour the alcohol into a glass for you, or crack open a can, and re-gift it back to you, and voila! It’s not illegal because the “consumption of alcohol” doesn’t count if the alcohol was a gift from the party host. What you want to avoid is a situation where “guests bring their own alcohol to premises at which a function is being held and retain possession and control of it throughout”.