GIFT cards used to buy thousands of dollars worth of booze over the Christmas and New Year holidays helped to fuel a surge in crime and violence across Port Hedland, police say.

It is understood up to $300,000 worth of Coles gift cards — some valued at up to $1500 — were issued to Aboriginal people and used to buy alcohol at Liquorland in the lead-up to Christmas.

It was not clear whether the gift cards had been bought or if they had been handed out by an official entity.

Town of Port Hedland Mayor Camilo Blanco said he was appalled and angered by the idea gift cards would be used in such a way.

Camera Icon Port Hedland Mayor Camilo Blanco. Credit: PerthNow

“This is not helping the less fortunate,” he said. “It is contributing to the serious destruction of another generation.”

Police were called to 46 jobs on December 21, 33 of which were alcohol-related, while St John Ambulance responded to an “unprecedented” 20 call-outs on the same night, all alcohol-related.

To try to limit the number of call-outs, police conducted point-of-sale operations for the next two days, with officers stationed outside the South Hedland branch of Liquorland.

Port Hedland Sen-Sgt Dean Snashall said it had been an immense battle to counter alcohol-related violence and harm in the community over the Christmas-New Year period.

Sen-Sgt Snashall said the gift cards were seen being used in the week leading up to Christmas to buy “copious amounts of alcohol”.

“I was present at Liquorland where I observed a male person pushing a trolley with eight cartons of beer to the counter with the $1500 gift card,” he said.

Sen-Sgt Snashall said on December 22, despite takeaway outlets only being permitted to open between 3pm and 7pm, 150 people were refused service by police and Liquorland staff for a variety of reasons, as were 182 people on December 23.

Over December 22 and 23, there were a combined 48 calls for police assistance and 11 calls for St John Ambulance, half that of the previous 48 hours.

“I don’t think it takes rocket science to ascertain what the problem is here,” Sen. Sgt Snashall said.

“No alcohol for one day resulted in no offences being reported.”

Sen. Sgt Snashall said he was “staggered that with all the public attention South Hedland received over the last two months in relation to alcohol-fuelled violence” gift cards in such large denominations may have been handed out.

“We had people driving from all over the Pilbara to load up on grog using these gift cards and I have no doubt that contributed to the high level of violence in the week leading up to Christmas,” he said.

WA Country Health Service Pilbara regional director Ron Wynn said the Hedland Health Campus emergency department experienced an influx of patients on the night of December 21.

“Four-hundred-and-fifty people attended the emergency department in the week before Christmas, an increase of 10.2 per cent on the same period last year,” he said.

Mr Wynn said when takeaway alcohol restrictions were placed on the town “there are fewer people presenting to the Hedland Health Campus emergency department”.

A Coles spokeswoman said the South Hedland Coles and Liquorland branches took responsible service of alcohol very seriously and endeavoured to work with the Port Hedland Liquor Accord.

“In South Hedland, Coles and Liquorland will continue to work co-operatively with police, the licensing regulator and the local community to assess measures to ensure we are properly addressing community concerns in relation to the service of alcohol,” she said.

“In addition to complying with all legal requirements on the sale of alcohol, Liquorland South Hedland has a number of additional measures in place to address community concerns.”

Mr Blanco has promised to “up the ante” on solving alcohol-related issues and antisocial behaviour in South Hedland.

“Our community, Port Hedland, has had enough,” he said.

“If we have to put up with this ... week after week, the country will have to see the footage as well.

“I am pressuring the police to apply Liquor Control Act section 64 ... there’s a lot of talk about restrictions but no action.”

Section 64 allows licensing officials to impose extra conditions on the sale of alcohol.