Children as young as eight are "swigging wine" on the streets and demand for alcohol support services has spiked because of a drop in bottle shop patrols, a Northern Territory outreach group claims.

Drug and Alcohol Services Australia (DASA) operates Alice Springs' only sobering up shelter.

When the Banned Drinker Register (BDR) was introduced three months ago and the Point of Sale Intervention (POSIs) was scaled back, the 16-bed facility was at capacity.

On occasion, the service has been forced to turn clients away.

"There is no doubt that when police are on bottle shops, our clientele reduces by 60 to 80 per cent," Chief Executive Officer Carol Taylor said.

"[When patrols are scaled back] we go from five people a night to 15, 16. Last night there was 17."

Ms Taylor said the spike in demand had resulted in newer clients, often from outside Alice Springs, coming through their doors.

"Any given night outside the sobering up shelter, there's people fighting, a lot of domestic violence going on and there's kids walking around."

"There was a child the other night, about eight, swigging on a bottle of wine," she sad.

In the three months since the Banned Drinker Register was introduced, alcohol-related assaults have increased more than 22 per cent.

Reduced patrols sparks anti-social behaviour concerns

Demand for alcohol support services in Alice Springs has spiked in recent months. ( ABC News: Claire Campbell )

Northern Territory Police Commander Michael White disputed suggestions it was linked to police officers not being stationed outside bottle shops.

"There's no doubt that alcohol is a cause or factor in assaults, particularly domestic violence assaults, but having a police officer standing outside a bottle shop isn't the answer to that," he said.

"It's a very resource intensive thing to do to stand outside bottle shop every day and that obviously takes away from our capacity to respond to other incidents or be proactive."

"The problem we have is a power imbalance between women and men."

Commander White said police officers would not be stationed outside bottle shops on a full-time basis in Alice Springs any more.

The Alice Springs People's Alcohol Action Coalition has called for the patrols to remain in place until licenced liquor inspectors had been recruited and trained.

"This current situation is preventable and it's unacceptable. It's next to useless to be doing it in an intermittent fashion," the Coalition's John Boffa said.

"We know it doesn't work unless it's all day on all outlets."

The scaled-back patrols have sparked what local traders fear is a rise in anti-social behaviour, with dozens of intoxicated people loitering around liquor stores at any one time.

At times, customers have reported being harassed to buy alcohol.

"Staff are feeling quite unsafe and my feedback from some customers is that they're not feeling as safe at these stores any more," said Sally McMartin, who runs three supermarkets in town and has since increased security measures.

"The level of theft has increased in all of the stores."

It could be up to nine months before liquor licence inspectors will be ready to man bottle shops in Alice Springs.