Police reform is 'scandalous'

Industry slams voluntary White Paper proposal to pay for officers

The trade is outraged over Government plans to ask licensees at late-night venues to pay for extra police officers to patrol Britain's streets.

The radical move, announced as part of the police reform White Paper yesterday (December 5), angered trade leaders, who described the proposals as "scandalous" and said they "amounted to extortion".

Mark Hastings, spokesman for the British Beer & Pub Association, told thePublican.com that he was "strongly opposed to the idea".

"The industry already pays enough taxes. It's scandalous - this is licensed protection money," he said.

"The Government will say that it is not forcing people to do this and that it will be a 'voluntary scheme'.

"It will say it will be up to the local authorities to come up with their own schemes, but we know what will happen and in the future it could become almost a condition of having a licence."

Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of Business in Sport and Leisure, was also furious.

She accused the police of forming a protection racket and said it would create suspicion of unfair treatment from licensees who felt they could not afford to pay for extra services.

"Businesses already pay corporation tax, business rates, excise duty and employers' national insurance contributions," Ms Simmonds said. "Some businesses understandably decide that they do not wish to contribute further.

"But some premises fear police harassment if they do not pay, and this amounts to police extortion."

But a spokeswoman for the Home Office told thePublican.com that the Government was simply proposing a "voluntary scheme" and that this would not restrict the numbers of police already available.

"This is just a suggestion," she said. "At the moment it is very difficult to police towns and cities on Saturday nights when thousands of people are spreading out of pubs and clubs. It's taking police away from other areas.

"But this is not a stealth tax. We are not forcing anybody to take part. Licensees who do not pay for an extra officer will continue to get the services that they have got already."

Trade leaders first expressed concern when licensees in Manchester's Peter Street offered to pay for an extra police officer because of the increase in crime brought about by a higher number of late-night licensed venues (See Licensees pay for extra beat officer to cut late-night crime (7 November 2001)for full details).

Garry Shewan, superintendent for Greater Manchester Police, said the scheme had been very successful with incidents in the city reduced from 15 to an average of just three over a Friday and Saturday night period.

This was achieved by a greater police focus on discouraging binge drinking, improved late-night transport and two extra police officers, Supt Shewan said.

But the trade believes that the best way to reduce crime and disorder is to introduce staggered closing times, so that thousands of people are not leaving late-night venues at the same time.

When the Isle of Man extended opening hours police found that crime immediately dropped by 40 per cent.