Of the total person-shift time worked, police recorded 8.2 percent of this time as involving activity that pertained to alcohol-related behaviors and incidents. The Western region of New South Wales had the highest percentage of police time spent on alcohol-related issues, with almost 15 percent of their shift time involved in such issues. Compared with rural regions, metropolitan regions had lower time percentages for alcohol-related incidents. The percentage of time spent on alcohol-related incidents varied according to temporal factors such as the time of day and the day of the week. Weekends and nights were the peak times for police time spent on alcohol-related incidents. Responding to assault incidents was the most frequently recorded type of activity, constituting almost 15 percent of alcohol-related tasks. This was closely followed by the time spent on random breath testing for alcohol consumption. Salary cost for the time spent on alcohol-related issues was estimated at $50 million in 2005. This is equivalent to the combined annual salaries of approximately 1,000 full-time constables in New South Wales. Formulas were developed in order to enable other Australian jurisdictions to use the activity survey. All staff in 17 Local Area Commands and officers from the specialized VIKINGS Unit were surveyed over two 8-day periods. Participating officers were asked to record details on their shift duties, their shift start and end times, and the time and details of any alcohol-related tasks undertaken during the shift. 21 references and appended questionnaire