Whether you are a security or risk manager for a pub chain, a university, retailer, or anywhere to do with alcohol, you face having to clear up – literally? – the effects of binge drinking. The government is proposing measures to curb problem drinking that could mean work for security providers.
IIn other words, the Home Office proposes a ‘code of practice for the retail of alcohol’ including ‘mandatory licensing conditions’ for licensed premises. <br><br>That could mean that a local authority could demand that sellers of alcohol do ‘a risk review of the premises is carried out by the licence holder, and a management plan is put in place which must be agreed with the licensing authority and then regularly reviewed to help to prevent crime and disorder’. Or: require that ‘Security Industry Authority licensed door staff conduct checks for weapons and drugs and manage admissions to licensed premises during periods of time most associated with alcohol-related nuisance’. Or: a shop or pub must have CCTV. Or: door supervisors should have a ‘live text or radio pager link for instant communication with local police’. Or: a pub or club might have to check toilets every half hour or hour – as toilets ‘in some licensed premises are used for criminal activity, such as drug taking or dealing, acts of violence etc’. Another possible condition that would mean specific work (and training to be able to do the task) for door staff is searches before entry ‘for weapons or drugs’. <br><br>Other possible demands are less to do with security and more about keeping drinkers out of or away from trouble – such as a ban on serving alcohol in glass containers, to curb ‘glassing’, use of glass as a weapon; or a free phone to taxi firms, to get people home safely. One factor is that trouble happens outside pubs, typically at taxi ranks as people hang around waiting for transport. <br><br>The issue of how to keep a lid on alcohol-related crime and nuisance has rumbled for years, before and after the Licensing Act 2003. A National Alcohol Strategy for instance came out in 2007; in 2005 the alcohol industry developed its own, voluntary, standards. While the public and press continue to fret about disorder, a powerful drinks lobby – competing with supermarkets to sell alcohol – argues that it is doing all it can to encourage responsible drinking. Pubs and supermarkets can blame each other – some supermarkets for instance promote cheap beer at the very entrance; some place it well inside the store. While the security man might argue that beer in the entrance only encourages shoplifting and youths to hang around, store planners will seek to maximise sales. <br><br>One problem with any measures to tackle drunks is that by definition people under the influence do not respond to people in authority or security technology as they might when sober. For instance, the document speaks of CCTV as a way of deterring and detecting crime. ‘This does not mean that areas should have blanket CCTV coverage but rather that it can be used to deter and detect in areas that have a high level of alcohol-related crime.’ But do drunks even notice that cameras are there? <br><br>The document makes the point that the the Licensing Act 2003 requires that all door staff must be Security Industry Authority licensed, ‘this would be a costly condition unless used in a targeted way to deliver disorder and nuisance reduction benefits’. Should a licensing authority (which as the document says ‘in practice is normally the local authority’) demand that some groups of premises have door staff at peak times, or they don’t keep their licence?<br><br>What now? The government claims that the cost of alcohol-related crime and disorder is £8billion to £13billion a year. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said: "We do not want to stop the vast majority of people who enjoy a drink responsibly from doing so but this code will crack down on the minority of businesses whose irresponsible promotions fuel the excessive drinking that can lead people into crime and disorder or to risk their own or other’s safety. It is not about penalising the majority who trade responsibly but the government has a duty to tackle this issue which affects us all." ACPO’s man on alcohol licensing, Mike Craik, hinted that it must take more than enforcement on a Saturday night: ‘We need cultural change, properly planned town centres, appropriate licensing decisions, courts handing down appropriate sentences and of course, continued enforcement activity targeted at problem premises and problem individuals.'<br><br>The consultation runs until August 5. To respond, email [email protected]; or write to Alcohol Strategy Unit, 4th Floor Peel Building, Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF.
Background
Research released in May (by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/drinking-in-the-uk) shows that the proportion of women who binge-drink almost doubled between 1998 and 2006 and is now at 15% (men who binge-drink increased by 1% to 23%). However, the proportion of 16- to 24-year-old men binge-drinking decreased by 9% since 2000. Researchers also found that whilst fewer children are drinking, those that do drink are drinking much more than they did.
