Wellington police say the city's nightlife has become a street party of ten thousand drunken young people they have to babysit.

Inspector Chris Bensemann painted a picture of chaos on Courtney Place when he spoke to the council's Community, Sport and Recreation committee this morning.

Bensemann said the council needed to act on Wellington’s alcohol problem now.

“There is no one fix to the problem, there has to be a whole range of measures employed to mitigate what I would call a drunken culture of 20 to 30 year olds.

“Police alone are not the solution to this problem, it’s a community problem that we all must own.”

He said an increasing number of people had gravitated towards Courtney Place during his 18 months as Wellington city’s area commander.

“We spend most of our nights, on the weekend in particular, babysitting 10,000 plus people.”

Just last weekend, Bensemann said police were lucky to find a young girl slumped in a doorway in the CBD, before it was too late.

“She had become isolated from her friends, was extremely intoxicated and falling asleep. All she had on was a slip with very little under it and I can’t imagine what would have happened if she hadn’t been found.”

The Community, Sport and Recreation committee later heard updates on the council’s Alcohol Management Strategy to help councillors decide the best way to manage the city’s nightlife.