Public Order Response Team members on patrol on the Hobart waterfront.
THE police team responsible for halting anti-social behaviour on the Hobart waterfront has become another victim of State Government budget cuts.
Hoteliers fear the great work done by police in making Hobart's streets safer is unravelling already.
The Public Order Response Team was the highly visible unit that walked major entertainment and shopping districts in a strong show of police presence.
The team, set up in 2006, has been merged with traffic services.
Tasmanian Hospitality Association chief Steve Old said the Public Order Response Team had created a presence on the streets and a strong relationship with hoteliers.
"They had cut down the trouble on the streets," Mr Old said yesterday.
"The work that they had done previously is already dropping away."
Mr Old said hotel bouncers were responsible for patrons on their premises but not on the streets.
He said the time it took for police to respond to bouncers' requests for assistance was growing.
"It gets to the stage that bouncers know the police won't turn up and the idiot element knows it as well."
Tasmania Police Assistant Commissioner Donna Adams said combining the teams was the most efficient use of resources.
"The combined team provides a flexible resource pool of officers trained to respond to traffic and PORT duties as required," Ms Adams said.
"Our performance in these areas is measured against outcomes -- assaults in public places in Tasmania continue to decline."
The Police Association of Tasmania's Pat Allen said merging the public order response and traffic teams in the past three months has had consequences for both units.
"They have combined two teams and got rid of staff. Hence the reason why we are behind on traffic infringements," Mr Allen said.
The latest performance results from police show 41,462 traffic infringement notices were issued in March, well down on the three-year average of 63,862 each month.
Ms Adams said the number of traffic infringements had been declining since 2009 and could be attributed to a number of factors including a focus on high-risk driving behaviour.
"In 2009 there were 63 fatalities in Tasmania, while in 2012 there were 32 fatalities," she said.
Mr Allen said the reduction in staff numbers for the Public Order Response Team was a blow to safety.
"The dedicated team that cleaned up Salamanca over two years are not doing the same amount of work that they were doing.
"All the work that was done has been undone."
Amid austerity measures across all government departments, Tasmania Police has had to find a raft of savings. The cold case unit has been disbanded and the successful U-Turn program for youth will no longer be funded.
Last week the Mercury revealed Tasmania Police had spent almost $50 million upgrading its troubled police mobile radio network even though it was scheduled to be replaced.
matthew.smith@news.com.au
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