 For his long and dedicated service, he was awarded the Public Service Medal in January 1998.Following the introduction in February 2014 of the New South Wales lockout laws which limited the sale of alcohol in the Sydney CBD and Kings Cross, Weatherburn released a study arguing that the drop in the number of alcohol-related assaults since the new laws was "simply precipitous" and "one of the most dramatic effects I've seen in my time, of policy intervention to reduce crime".In September 2018 Weatherburn admitted his Bureau was at fault for releasing misleading drug detection results.