14. Memorandum submitted by Stephen Green
QPM MA, Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police
REFORM OF
THE LIQUOR
LICENSING LEGISLATION
AND ALCOHOL
RELATED TOWN
CENTRE VIOLENCE
1. Development of the night time economy
As the Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police
I have been concerned for some time about the effects that the
burgeoning night time economy across the County, and in particular
the City of Nottingham, has had upon policing and communities.
Specifically, my concerns have centred upon the changing nature
of the licensed economy and the increasing demands it places upon
the municipal infrastructure. The concept of a typical bar has
altered dramatically over the last decade, with many city centres
now featuring developments packed with huge buildings converted
to drinking "palaces", often with occupancies of 1,000
people or more. In many ways the development of the licensed economy
during late 1990s and early part of this century has all the appearances
of an alcohol-driven gold rush, with every available building
being converted into a bar or nightclub. This scene is well evidenced
by my own experiences in Nottingham, where the licensed capacity
in the City Centre has grown from approximately 62,000 in 1997
to around 108,000 currently, amounting to a 74% increase in licensed
capacity. Of further note has been the increase in late night
capacity, associated with bars and clubs, Nottingham witnessing
a rise over the corresponding period from around 24,000 to 32,000
for those premises which have a terminal hour of 2.00 am.
The nature of the alcoholic products available
has also changed dramatically; in the past, products such as bitter,
mild and pale ale, with all their traditional connotations, were
to the fore, with lager considered a continental oddity and spirits
limited to the serious drinker. However, today's reality provides
for a truly cosmopolitan cocktail of premium strength lagers,
traditional beers, Alco pops, liqueurs and lurid spirits; all
advertised and promoted in a crescendo of vivid colours, images
and formats and all seemingly promoted with the intention of appearing
"cool". Without wishing to appear intemperate, it should
be noted that most of these recent products arrive with significantly
higher alcoholic contents, at a time when the public health agencies
continually warn of the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption
for the human body.
2. Alcohol Related Violence and Disorder
Proponents of these licensed developments have
contended that there is no direct correlation between the expansion
of the night time economy and levels of violence and disorder.
Indeed a favoured argument has been that, where incidents occurred
in and around new venues, it was due to the transference of crime
associated with the movement of customers to the new venues, rather
than through the commission of new, additional incidents. Information
collated by my own Force, and tested by the courts, disputes this
assertion and demonstrates a correlation between the development
of new licensed activity and the emergence of crime and disorder
where, previously, there was none. Likewise, an assessment of
temporal factors highlights close links with the surge in late
night activity with peaks for violence and disorder occurring
between 11.00 pm and 4.00 am each weekend. Clearly, such a relationship
will never be unequivocally linear, subject to variables such
as the style and nature of operation, but the Nottingham experience
identified that significant licensed expansion has a cost in respect
of alcohol related violence and disorder.
To illustrate the broad thrust of this assertion
I would request consideration of the following statistics. From
1 January 2004 up to 7 December 2004 there were 8,343 recorded
offences of Violence Against the Person (the main categories of
assault and violence) across the City of Nottingham, with the
City having a residential population of around 270,000 people.
However, despite the City Centre only being approximately a square
mile in size, with a residential population of around 10,000 people
(predominantly newly built city living apartments), 19% of all
these offences occurred in the City Centre. Of these 1,621 offences,
48% occurred between midnight and 3.00 am and 61% at weekends.
These statistics are not unique, but represent the continuing
levels of violence and disorder generated in our city and town
centres by unrestrained drinking.
I must emphasise that the Police are not suggesting
that consumers of alcohol will become automatons bent on violence
and mayhem; to do so, with all the connotations of that phrase
"the demon drink" would be risible. But what cannot
be ignored are the properties of disinhibition attendant with
alcohol (indeed for many citizens the primary driver behind the
enjoyment of alcohol); socially neutral with moderate consumption,
but a dangerous catalyst with uncontrolled drinking. Add this
concept to the mix of increasingly significant numbers of young
people in large venues consuming vast amounts of strong liquor
and the violent crime formula becomes more predictable in respect
of outcomes.
3. Impact upon Local Policing Services
Our civic centres are hives of commercial activity,
many having thriving retail sectors, but very few having significant
residential populations. At a time when the Police Service is
digesting the notion of citizen-focused policing, in particular
the requirement to respond to quality of life issues in residential
areas, it is interesting to note that most Police stations in
town centre locations appear to have disproportionately high staffing
levels at the apparent cost of stations in residential districts.
Whilst retail related crime and attendant public reassurance factors
require adequate resources, it is the consequences of the night
time economy that drive the artificially high numbers of officers.
It would be inadvisable to suggest that every minute of each night
shift provides for danger and large scale public disorder, but
it is inescapable that our town centres are regularly afflicted
by late night thuggery and disorder, incidents which drain resources
to achieve restoration of order. Furthermore, policing has to
take account of not only the actual problem but also the threat
of the problem and policing levels have to be set accordingly.
Such criminality correspondingly places further strain on other
police logistics, notably custody facilities and investigative
teams, with downstream impact upon all criminal justice partners.
As Chief Constable of a diverse county, featuring
a broad range of crime and disorder issues, I clearly recognise
the importance of ensuring the late night safety of my communities
in the civic centres, but I believe that the time is right to
assess the true cost of such policing and question whether the
public purse is unfairly subsidising licensed private enterprise.
4. Impact Upon Local Communities
It would be churlish not to recognise the positive
economic benefits that the licensed developments have brought
to our civic centres, often in our locations suffering economic
deprivation. Certainly, many premises in my own City rightly now
command respect for the regenerative effects their development
has brought to formerly run down districts. However, we should
collectively acknowledge that the alcohol related activity has
come at a cost and not just in policing terms. It is now recognised
that we are faced with an apparent epidemic of binge drinking
with our young people acknowledged as some of the heaviest drinkers
in Europe. Any analysis of reported city centre violent crime
demonstrates that young people in the 16-24 group are at the greatest
risk of being both victims and offenders, yet many of the drinks
advertisements and promotions appear intended for the younger
markets. It is saddening that many young people are regularly
confronted by the consequences of life-altering incidents subsequent
to excessive consumption of alcohol.
An assessment of drinks promotions during the
now euphemistic "happy hours" clearly highlights the
availability of cheap and powerful liquor at discounted prices,
often in premises which attract the younger clientele. Whilst
the industry claims to have an eye on the social consequences
of its marketing and promotions, the late night evidence in many
town centres often suggests otherwise. For towns and cities with
universities, each freshers week heralds a surge in binge drinking,
the results of which are confronted on a nightly basis by the
emergency services and street cleansing departments.
One feels compelled to ask whether or not the
emergence of such drinks promotions isn't a symptom of an over-provision
of liquor licensing capacity which is only aggravating the tendency
of the industry to put profits before consequences.
5. Licensing Reform and the Way Forward
I welcome many of the intentions driving the
licensing reforms, not least the probable simplification of our
licensing regime for all stakeholders. I do consider, though,
that the impending change, allied to the factors I have described
earlier, bring sharply into focus two concepts for all of those
concerned with alcohol and licensing:
Central to the concept of social responsibility
are the questions of how the industry makes its profit, and at
what cost? Whilst the industry claims to have an eye on the social
consequences of its marketing and promotions, the late night evidence
in our civic centres often suggests otherwise. Despite previous
attempts at changing our drinking culture, the late night streets
still seem a constant source of inebriated young people, intent
on consuming vast quantities of liquor, oblivious of the health
consequences of their alcoholic thirst. Even acknowledging the
economic benefits brought by the new developments, I contend that
the time has come for us to accept that the cost to our communities
in respect of policing, public health and general governance is
now too high. Continuing this argument, it is time for the industry
to accept its societal obligations in selling what is essentially
a drug to those often among the most vulnerable in our communities.
I am not suggesting that licencees continually step outside existing
licensing arrangements, or wittingly wish to stimulate violent
crime. Acting within the law and acting responsibly are, however,
two different things and results from the recent, national Alcohol
Misuse Enforcement Campaign highlighted a worrying deviance from
best practice in the retailing of alcohol. In a free market economy
there will always be the need for profit related activity, but
I strongly believe that the drinks and licensed industry need
to accept that profits at the expense of social responsibility
are unacceptable.
Additionally, my assertion that policing resources
are stretched in coping with the demands generated by licensed
activity, brings into focus the proportionality debate—does
the industry pay its way for the workload it generates? In policing
terms, the crunch time has been reached in the battle to persuade
the drinks industry to contribute more funds for community safety
initiatives to deal with the violence and disorder fuelled by
alcohol consumption. It is not acceptable that Forces have to
routinely boost city centre policing resources to cope with the
volume of alcohol related incidents each weekend at the expense
of other activities, effectively subsidising commercial enterprise
through public-expensed policing. Whilst the Security Industry
Authority and National Strategy will pave the way for the effective
governance of the door supervision industry, providing for robust
and professional social management within premises, many cities
such as Nottingham already have excellent doorstaff registration
schemes, operated jointly with local authorities. The concepts
of accreditation and wider powers for the private sector companies
to facilitate their dealing with minor public order incidents,
for example in taxi queues, may provide interesting opportunities;
however, given the problematic topics of public liability and
accountability, it is likely that the recurring issue of policing,
in its broadest sense, in the public realm will still fall predominantly
to the Police Service.
I may be accused of attempting to secure additional
funding through stealth taxation, the industry arguing that they
collectively contribute large sums though business rates for example.
However, the debate around proportionality, simplistically, is
that they still take far more out than is put in, a situation
which cannot be allowed to continue. The proposed community safety
funds outlined by the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy may well
present appropriate funding streams, but strongly worded letters
from pub chains stating that they have no intention of paying
for additional policing do not engender faith in the proposed
voluntary schemes. Experience in this arena has demonstrated that
the industry appears only to respond to legislation and strong
governmental imperatives. This watershed presents us with an opportunity
to grasp these issues and ensure the sustainable, but measured
developments of our civic centres, preferably within governance
frameworks engineered by local authorities with a clear plan for
what future growth should look like.
Fundamentally, returning to the notion of social
responsibility, is the necessity for the licensed sector to embrace
the retailing of alcohol in a balanced and mature manner, whether
in the nature of its products, the advertising or even the pricing
arrangements, rather than seeking to defeat initiatives which
may infringe on profit margins, as evidenced by the recent debacle
involving the Office of Fair Trading. It is not for Chief Officers
of Police to dabble in economic theory, but it is our duty to
evidence the consequences when they are so serious. Using the
words of the academic Robert Reiner, the alternative is the continuation
of the "societal barbarism" witnessed in our town centres.
A modernised regime of regulation for a responsible
licensing industry should be a desirable policy objective for
us all. I would contend, however, that the responsibility of the
industry should be demonstrated before things change rather than
hope that it happens at some time after!
13 December 2004
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