The speakers who had the earliest start and the furthest to travel to reach the London business crime reduction conference on November 16 were from Sheffield; South Yorkshire Police Sgt Matt Burdett and Tracey Ford of the city’s drug and alcohol co-ordination team (DACT), pictured. They were praised by an earlier speaker, Rita King of the responsible drinking body The Portman Group, as a ‘shining example’ of partnership work.
And that is what they told the event at the Hippodrome about. Sheffield has been a national winner of the Best Bar None award. Briefly, the BBN scheme covers responsible management and operation of alcohol licensed premises. Sheffield’s BBN has been one of the longest-running, having started in 2003. Some 45 premises are accredited; it’s free. Intriguingly – and as an aside, it’s not the only instance – the speakers suggested that the austerity cuts have helped, because it’s made the work ‘smarter’ and forced upon organisers more partnership working.
For example, the BBN assessment of premises is done by volunteers, whether police or fire officers, or city council environmental health. A safe venue has to reduce harm, for instance from binge drinking; are events controlled, and public nuisances prevented; are staff trained; do door staff if necessary have equipment, such as body-worn cameras and ID-scanners to check proof of age and identity cards.
As so many other people in the crime reduction partnership field say, good work cannot spring up overnight; partnerships rely on personal relationships and trust, which takes time, perhaps years, to build up; and to overcome people’s fear of failure and asking what’s in it for them, the speakers suggested. The forum for Sheffield pubs and night venues is Unight. Partnership work, the speakers made plain, is also about answering the concerns raised. In the case of Unight, one example was ‘legal highs’; door staff might be stopping people with suspicious drugs, only to be told that they were ‘legal highs’. Hence the partnership offered and delivered drug awareness training, and BBN produced a ‘zero tolerance process’ against anything claimed as a legal high. Again as in other cities, to combat exploitation of vulnerable lone women on a night out, BBN gave specific training to premises. BBN funded polycarbonate glasses (which don’t shatter into what can be used as dangerous, even lethal weapons like proper glass) and 500 ‘drink spiking testing kits’.
Each autumn when thousands of students begin university study in the city for the first time, during freshers’ week a campaign runs to urge young people to drink sensibly and safely. A Best Bar None app for Sheffield is available for Android and Apple devices, described as a one stop app for all the details needed for a safe night out in Sheffield. The user can find BBN-accredited entertainment venues via GPS and tips on health and safety during a night out and travel information – such as numbers to dial for taxis home.
For more details; visit http://sheffieldbestbarnone.com/. For the national BBN scheme visit http://www.bbnuk.com/.
