Legal advice: Combatting crime and disorder

How will the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy work to combat crime and disorder in practice?

By David Clifton of thePublican.com's team of legal experts.​

I wrote last week about the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy unveiled by the Prime Minister's strategy unit on March 15.

The strategy unit estimates that alcohol-related crime has a financial cost to society of £7.3bn a year. Two main areas of concern relating to this are identified - the first being alcohol-fuelled crime and disorder in town and city centres and the second underage drinking.

Late-night crime and disorder in towns and cities is seen as a major and "highly visible" problem. The strategy unit says it is fuelled by "a culture of going out to get drunk" and is no longer confined to the weekend. Findings from its consultation exercise indicate that "low-level alcohol-related crime and disorder" (together with its impact on the community through noise, litter, broken glass etc) is, in the eyes of the public, a "dominant theme" in town and city centres. The strategy maintains that crime and disorder are fuelled by three main factors:

• individual reactions - drunkenness impairs judgement and drunk people are more likely to get into violent situations
• the supply of alcohol - premises with little seating, loud music, large numbers of young customers, poorly-trained staff and excessively cheap drinks promotions are described as "particularly likely to fuel disorder and violence", even more so where there is a high density of premises. However, industry schemes, for example Pubwatch and those helping to police late-night transport, are providing solutions by tackling the problem "at source"
• surrounding infrastructure - the strategy refers to fights and disputes occurring over scarce infrastructure such as food outlets and public transport, problems made worse where premises all close at the same time.

The strategy identifies that "the key to managing the night-time economy lies in the effective joining-up of resources". The Manchester City Centre Safe Scheme is used as an example of good practice for a strategic approach in this respect.

The introduction of fixed penalty notices is seen as key to making easier the enforcement of legislation on drunk and disorderly behaviour. The government will consult with police on how best to raise the priority of alcohol-related disorder and to ensure that police officers are fully aware of existing powers (including in relation to reviewing existing licences and objecting to new ones).

The Home Office is to work closely with the police and the courts on enforcing the law on alcohol-related crime and disorder more tightly through:

• the use of fixed penalty notices for "low-level drunk and disorderly behaviour" such as noise and urinating in public, as well as for a wider range of offences such as littering and barstaff selling alcohol to drunks
• the use of acceptable behaviour contracts and anti-social behaviour orders
• the introduction of conditional cautions, linked to an agreement not to frequent local pubs
• more use of accreditation schemes so that, for example, door supervisors licensed by the Security Industry Authority might be accredited to use a limited range of police powers
• encouraging police forces to make greater use of community support officers.

The strategy proposes a code of good practice for pubs and other alcohol retailers designed to minimise and prevent harm from alcohol misuse, as well as attracting a wider variety of customers into town centres. It is proposed that this would be drawn up jointly by government and industry and tailored to local circumstances. The scheme would be voluntary in the first instance. However, the government is saying that an assessment of its success in the next parliament could (I would say will) lead to legislation, if no impact in reducing alcohol harm is made. The strategy unit envisages that such a code might include:

• a commitment to seek suitable proof of age and to display prominently information that under-18s will not be served
• display of information about responsible drinking
• clear and prominent sign-up to a "designated driver scheme"
• a minimum level of training (for all barstaff) on managing alcohol misuse
• abiding by the British Beer & Pub Association's code on irresponsible promotions
• a commitment to provide reasonably priced soft drinks and to make free water available in all bars
• designing premises to minimise the risk of harm and disorder, for example, by using the Safer by Design scheme
• use of safer forms of glass
• agreement to join radio/text pager schemes linked to the police (where such schemes exist).

Additionally, the strategy proposes a financial contribution at local level to tackle the consequences of alcohol misuse. This would be collected by local authorities and set at a local level so that individual councils cover their costs through contributions received.

It would be used to tackle some of the costs of alcohol misuse.