Tackling alcohol related crime, disorder and nuisance

Action Plan

This action plan sets out some key objectives and priorities for taking forward programmes of work to tackle alcohol related crime, disorder and nuisance.

While almost 90% of the UK population enjoys alcohol, in the most part without causing difficulties for themselves or others, alcohol misuse is a major cause of both ill health and social distress.

The Department of Health is to publish the Government’s proposals for a comprehensive national alcohol strategy later this year. In advance of that, much good work is being done to tackle the crime and disorder problems associated with alcohol misuse. This plan describes a range of initiatives to help tackle these problems, and provides a context for developing new ideas and innovative approaches, as part of local strategies, to address alcohol-related crime, disorder and nuisance.

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The links between alcohol and crime

Alcohol misuse contributes significantly to crime levels, through alcohol specific offences, for example being drunk and disorderly in public, offences against the licensing laws, such as selling or serving alcohol to under-age drinkers, or offences committed under the influence of alcohol: it has been estimated that 40% of violent crime; 78% of assaults and 88% of criminal damage cases are committed while the offender is under the influence of alcohol. Alcohol is often consumed by offenders and victims prior to the offence being committed, and it is inextricably linked to disorder around licensed premises. In addition, fear of alcohol related violence or intimidation may well mean that large numbers of people avoid city centres on weekend evenings.

Against this background, over 70% of the local crime audits conducted by crime and disorder partnerships identified alcohol as an issue: over 40% of the audit documents highlighted drunkenness as an issue, and 60% related public order problems to alcohol.

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Moving forward on alcohol and crime

This action plan builds on existing good practice. It has been drawn up following two alcohol and crime seminars, which have drawn on the support and commitment of a wide range of interested parties, including the police, local authorities, representatives of the licence trade, magistrates and others, all of whom will be critical to ensuring the success of the ideas and programmes set out in this plan.

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Our Aim

Our aim is to encourage local action to reduce levels of alcohol-related crime, disorder and nuisance. Three specific objectives have been identified:

• to reduce the problems arising from under-age drinking;
• to reduce public drunkenness;
• to prevent alcohol related violence.

Objective 1 : To reduce the problems arising from under-age drinking

The issue

Under-age consumption of alcohol must be addressed because it increases substantially the risks of young people becoming involved in criminal and disorderly behaviour, as well as leading to under-achievement at school, poor health and poor employment prospects which may lead on to additional problems in later life.

The evidence suggests that young people have access to alcohol. The 1998/99 Youth Lifestyles Survey showed that 84% of 12 year olds had drunk alcohol at some time in their lives, with drinking increasing as they get older. 63% of 16 to 17 year olds who had drunk in the last year said that they usually bought alcohol for themselves, illegally, most often in pubs, bars and night-clubs.

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Key actions

The existing legislative provisions – set out in the Licensing Acts of 1964 and 1988 – should be rigorously enforced to prevent the sale of alcohol to under 18s.

These provisions will be strengthened by the proposals set out in the White Paper Time for Reform: Proposals for the Modernisation of our Licensing Laws, published on 10 April 2000 (CM4696). These will set the legal age for drinking alcohol on licensed premises, and for buying it there, as 18, with new measures to back-up restrictions on under age drinking, including:

• a new offence of buying alcohol on behalf of an under-18;
• a new offence of knowingly permitting the sale of alcohol to an under-18;
• test purchasing to be placed on a statutory footing;
• a new duty on those selling alcohol to satisfy themselves about customers’ ages.

A Private Member’s Bill, The Licensing (Young Persons) Bill, presently making good progress in Parliament, would, if successful, introduce two of these changes this year:

it would become an offence for any person working in licensed premises in a capacity which gave them authority to prevent a sale, to permit knowingly the sale to an under 18 by any other person (this offence was previously restricted to licensees); and it would become an offence for an adult to purchase alcohol on behalf of a person under 18.

In addition, the Bill would close an important loophole in the law which grants immunity from prosecution to employees of national chains of off-licences – rather than those employed directly by the licensee – who sell to under 18s.

The provisions of the Confiscation of Alcohol (Young Persons) Act 1997 should be widely used.

This allows the police to confiscate alcohol from under-age drinkers in any public place, such as streets and parks and is a powerful tool both in preventing under-age drinking and in tackling nuisance and anti-social behaviour associated with public under-age drinking.

More widespread use of "Proof of Age" schemes to enable those 18 and above to establish their age in premises where alcohol is on sale.

More widespread use of these schemes, which are voluntary, will make it less likely that those under 18 will attempt to purchase alcohol themselves because they will be unable to prove that they are 18 years of age. The Government is considering the appropriate form of legislative and administrative backing for these schemes to ensure that they are more widely adopted.

Explore the options for strengthening alcohol education for young people:

• to discourage under-age drinking, including through:
• guidance to schools;
• development and dissemination of appropriate materials for use in schools
• engagement of parents and adults to encourage responsible drinking,
• service in supporting alcohol education messages.

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Objective 2 : To reduce public drunkenness

The issue

Public drunkenness can give rise to serious problems of disorderly conduct, nuisance, criminal damage and alcohol-related assaults, particularly in the proximity of licensed premises at closing time. In addition, it can create a fear of alcohol-related violence, which impacts on the quality of life for many. The Government is determined to tackle these issues.

Time for Reform proposes flexible opening hours, with the potential for up to 24 hour opening, subject to consideration of the impact on local residents. The aim is to encourage a more relaxed drinking culture, by avoiding the perceived necessity to binge drink is advance of closing time, and to avoid the potential problems that can arise when a number of licensed premises send all their patrons onto the streets at the same time.

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Key actions

Explore whether more can be done to support those in the licensing trade to adopt good practice in preventing alcohol-related problems.

for example through training of bar staff and door supervisors. Appropriate measures might include:

• refusing admission to known troublemakers. Licensees and managers of pubs and clubs are within their rights to refuse entry to those who are likely to cause a disturbance. This is backed up by the existing provision in the Licensed Premises (Exclusion of Certain Persons) Act 1980 which allows the court to make an order prohibiting a person entering specific premises following a conviction for an offence committed on licensed premises involving violence or threats of violence. Time for Reform proposes that the current maximum length of ban be extended from 2 to 10 years, or life in the most serious cases;
• a refusal to sell alcohol to those who are already intoxicated. Responsible serving practices are critical to the effort to reduce alcohol-related crime disorder. Serving intoxicated persons can result in the loss of licence;
• design and management of premises to avoid factors which research has shown contribute to alcohol-related aggression, including:
• overcrowding;
• poor bar layout/inconvenient access;
• a permissive environment which fails to tackle anti-social behaviour;
• bar workers who fail to practice responsible serving;
• inappropriate promotions that encourage heavy/binge drinking.

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Tough new powers for the police:

Time for Reform proposes tough new powers to deal instantly with violent and disorderly behaviour by closing premises that have become the focus of such behaviour.

Adoptive powers in place of byelaws on drinking alcohol in the streets and the confiscation of bottles etc

The Government is considering primary legislation to let local authorities adopt certain powers currently available under byelaws. These powers would make it an offence to carry on drinking alcohol in public in a designated area when asked to stop by a police officer, and enable the police to confiscate glasses, open bottles and cans containing alcohol.

The powers could be enhanced, for example to provide a power of arrest not conferred by byelaws, and the adoptive procedure would be simpler and speedier. It could be brought into play if the police and local authorities consider that it will assist their efforts to tackle alcohol-related unruly behaviour, particularly in city centres. It will be for consideration whether any future legislation on such lines should, in defined circumstances, extend the powers in the Confiscation of Alcohol (Young) Persons Act 1997 to cover adults.

Consideration to be given to the use of Fixed Penalty Notices to deal with minor offences of public drunkenness.

to allow for an effective and speedy, on the spot, response to minor offences of public drunkenness, in particular to deal with breaches of local byelaws to restrict alcohol consumption in public places. This may have to be backed up by an additional power for the police to detain, for example, those who are too drunk to confirm their personal details.

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Objective 3 : To prevent alcohol related violence

The issue

Research on alcohol and violent crime has consistently shown that a high proportion of violent crime (50% to 80%), including assault, rape and homicide, is committed by intoxicated persons. Studies of violent offenders have found them much more likely to be heavy drinkers. Some studies have shown that alcohol consumption by young men increases the likelihood that the behaviour of others will be seen as insulting or challenging, and that alcohol increases the tendency of male drinkers to project aggression onto others and to respond to imagined hostile behaviour more aggressively as a result.

Around 125,000 people suffer facial injuries in violent circumstances each year in Britain. In the majority of cases, either the victim or the assailant had been drinking alcohol. There are around 5,000 "glassings" each year, in which a smashed beer glass is used as a dangerous weapon.

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Key actions

Target hotspots associated with alcohol-related crime and disorder.

Establishing where those arrested for alcohol-related disorder offences have been drinking (or a similar exercise with those who turn up with alcohol related injuries in Accident and Emergency Units on Friday/Saturday nights) may identify particular pubs or clubs as trouble-spots – whether because they attract a troublesome clientele or because they do not exercise responsible serving practices. The police and licensee should work in partnership to develop appropriate solutions. Where necessary consideration to be given to closure or revocation of licence for premises which are the regular focus for alcohol-related violence. The Time for Reform proposals will strengthen existing powers to close premises where disorder is occurring.

Greater use to be made of information sharing schemes to keep troublemakers from pubs and clubs.

This to include a new impetus behind Pub-watch and other information sharing schemes to reduce access to pubs and clubs by troublemakers and drunks. These schemes provide an effective measure for keeping troublemakers from licensed premises. Pub-watch schemes can involve a partnership between pubs and clubs within a given vicinity, to provide an early warning system of the presence of individual or groups likely to cause trouble. They can also involve communication between the police and licensees, and involve bar and door staff in providing early warning of instances of disorder. Information/photographs of individuals banned from local establishments are circulated on a regular basis.

Ensuring that the role of both bar staff and door supervisors in helping to reduce incidents of disorder is properly recognised.

Bar and door staff have an important role in helping to prevent, diffuse or contain trouble on licensed premises and their role in this should be properly recognised and supported by appropriate training schemes. There is evidence to show that aggression is associated with bars where bar staff have little or no control, where they do not engage in responsible serving practices, where they allow a permissive environment (drug use, swearing, sexual activity), large crowds and high volume noise levels.

Door staff can prevent or minimise the potential impact of aggressive behaviour by identifying those with the potential to cause trouble and dealing with them quickly to lessen the likelihood of aggressive responses from other drinkers.

More widespread use of toughened drinking glasses in pubs and bars.

Toughened glasses are six-times more resistant to impact and shatter into blunt-edged, rather than sharp, pieces. This makes them less likely to be used as a weapon. The use of toughened glass can be made a condition of licence.

More use of plastic "glasses" and refusal to sell beer in bottles in pubs and clubs.

Practice already followed in some instances, to help reduce the possibility of bottles and glasses being used as weapons.

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A strategic focus

It is recommended that all the elements of this action plan be adopted into local integrated strategies for tackling alcohol related crime and associated disorder and nuisance. The crime and disorder partnership is the key body for driving forward local partnership work, with the necessary engagement of local representatives of the licensed trade. The Government is prepared to consider legislative backing for measures set out in this action plan if this is required to tackle the problems that this action plan focuses on.

Taking the work forward

To assist local partnerships in delivering their strategies for tackling alcohol-related crime, disorder and nuisance, the Home Office will be launching a good practice "tool kit" later in the year.

In addition, the Home Office will facilitate a third alcohol and crime seminar in September, to consider progress against the objectives set out in this action plan and to consider what more can be done to take forward effective action to reduce the problems associated with alcohol related crime, disorder and nuisance.

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Alcohol Related Crime Action Plan: Summary of Key Actions

Under age drinking

1. Rigorous enforcement of the legislative provisions set out in the Licensing Acts of 1964 and 1988 to prevent the sale of alcohol to under 18s.

2. The provisions of the Confiscation of Alcohol (Young Persons) Act 1997 to be widely used to reduce the incidence of under age drinking and associated nuisance in public places.

3. More widespread use of "Proof of Age" schemes to restrict under 18s’ access to alcohol in licensed premises.

4. Establish whether more can be done to strengthen alcohol education for young people and adults.

Public drunkenness

5. More widespread adoption of good practice in preventing alcohol-related problems on licensed premises, including:

• exclusion of troublemakers;
• a refusal to sell alcohol to those who are already intoxicated
• good design and management of premises to avoid factors which can increase the potential for disorder.

6. Tough new powers for the police to enable them to close premises to deal effectively with violent and disorderly behaviour.

7. Consideration of primary legislation to provide an adoptive power in place of existing byelaws to

• prevent the consumption of alcohol and associated misbehaviour in
• specified public places, and
• allow the police to seize open bottles, glasses or cans.

8. Consideration to be given to the use of Fixed Penalty Notices as an effective and speedy response to minor offences of public drunkenness.

9. Targeting of hotspots associated with alcohol-related crime and disorder.

10. Greater use to be made of information sharing schemes – such as Pub-watch schemes - to keep troublemakers from pubs and clubs.

11. Support the role of both bar staff and door supervisors in helping to reduce incidents of disorder on licensed premises.

12. More widespread use of toughened drinking glasses in pubs and bars.

13. More use of plastic "glasses" and refusal to sell beer in bottles in pubs and clubs.

14. Launch good practice "toolkit" on tackling alcohol and crime.

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