Police need trade as an ally, says Andrew Pring

When the chairman of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) goes public with an attack on the police, then you know something has gone badly wrong in relations between the trade and the forces of law and order.

Alex Salussolia's broadside at the ALMR conference last week articulated the anger and frustration of licensees who feel the police are not playing fair.

All round the country, operators are saying that constructive dialogue with the police has been replaced by a concerted attempt to catch out licensees. There is now a strong sense that police chiefs have been given orders by the Home Office to take as many pub scalps as they can. If that means nit-picking over the smallest operational details, and then coming down heavily if there's the slightest transgression, so what? It'll go down in police records as a successful hit, and help meet targets.

The same inflexibility is being shown over the forced imposition of polycarbonate glassware. Acting without the slightest consultation, police chiefs have encouraged their forces to lean on pubs to make the switch from glass, regardless of whether they have a track record of glass injuries. The Morning Advertiser wrote to the Association of Chief Police Officers asking for a rethink on this disastrous policy. It is symptomatic of the breakdown in dialogue that we have yet to receive a reply.

This week, the police begin their latest crackdown on underage drinking. Even law-abiding licensees who operate Challenge 21 policies are worried they could be caught out if police decide, for whatever reason, to target them. And adding to licensee resentment is the lenient treatment meted out to the real offenders. Underage drinkers who consistently try to get served, or thugs who intimidate bar staff are let off with just warnings.

It's a sad state of affairs. Trade relations with the police have traditionally been good: they've been based on mutual respect and the understanding that both have difficult jobs that are made easier by

co-operation. There are many police forces that still operate this way. Anyone who's been involved recently with the Best Bar None scheme in Southampton and its equivalent in Poole will have had nothing but praise for the police.

Chief constables need to understand that the licensed trade is their ally in dealing with social disorder. At the moment, all too often, we're seen as the enemy.

Garth - Use this last par if space permits

The first thing our new Home Secretary must do is call off the quota junkies and work to restore mutual trust.