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Thursday 29 April 2010 – DAY FOUR –
Daily Update
– 5
‘WHAT IS ALCOHOL HARM REDUCTION?’
Rachel Herring of
Middlesex University asked delegates in the
Responsible hospitality:
reducing harm in the nightlife economy
session. ‘A simple definition is
measures that aim to reduce the negative consequences of drinking.’
This did not just relate to consumption, she stressed, but also things
like shatter-proof glassware.
The focus on the night time economy had been on alcohol-related
crime and disorder, acute health harms and youth binge drinking, she
said. However, more recently this had widened out to include home
drinking, middle aged and middle class ‘hazardous and harmful’ drinkers
and broader health harms such as liver disease and heart disease.
‘There’s a better understanding that alcohol is a cross-cutting issue
that involves health, criminal justice, community safety and commerce,’
she told the conference. ‘There has been a perceived failure of separate-
ly defined and run services, and international evidence for the multi-
component approach.’
Alcohol was a complex issue that needed complex solutions, she said,
and partnership working frequently required changes in professional
behaviour – ‘people who’ve never worked together before, and where there
may even be animosity’. ‘If a partnership is going to work you need senior
level buy-in. Partners need to commit and engage,’ she told delegates.
Partner agencies included police, health, licensees and education,
among others, and strong links and clarity were essential, she stressed.
‘People need to know why they’re there and what they’re going to gain.
They need shared ownership and a vision of where they’re going.’
However barriers included a lack of engagement on the part of senior
management, professional ‘tribes’, inadequate human and financial
resources, time pressures, non-coterminous boundaries and the
complexity of the policy context.
‘Drugs are much better funded in the UK than alcohol, although in
some areas alcohol presents greater problems,’ The key things for
partnerships were funding – not just the amount but its security – as well
as stability and ‘having the time to get on with the work without being
reorganised again.’
Complex solutions needed for harm reduction
‘I HOPE YOU’RE HAVING A GOOD TIME
in Liverpool,’ chief superintendent of
Merseyside police Stephen Watson told
delegates in the
Responsible hospitality:
reducing harm in the nightlife economy
session. ‘But don’t go out and get drunk
because I’ll arrest you,’ he joked.
Traditional police responses to alcohol-
related crime and disorder had been
enforcement-led, one dimensional and
could suffer from a lack of capacity and
resources, he said. ‘It’s very much about
joining the multi-component approach
with other organisations and combining
resources – if you’ve got the right mix of
people you can have a tremendous
impact.’
Liverpool city centre had undergone
tremendous regeneration in recent years,
he said, and there were now more than 240
licensed premises, with more opening all
the time. The city’s population had grown
and it had also become one of the
country’s main tourist destinations. All of
this, however, meant more opportunities for
alcohol-fuelled
violence,
anti-social
behaviour, victimisation of vulnerable
people and sexual assaults, alongside
increased competition for resources such
as taxis and fast food outlets and pressure
on health services and the local authority.
The city’s community safety partnership
was called Citysafe, Alison Doherty of
Liverpool City Council told delegates, and
involved a wide range of agencies including
the police, the local authority, the health, fire
and probation services, and housing
providers. The partnership tackled violence,
repeat offending, anti-social behaviour and
was involved in improving community
cohesion and community engagement. ‘It
means fewer victims in the city,’ she said.
The partnership had led to continuous
year-on-year reductions in crime and
disorder, she said, and held local events in
all of Liverpool’s 30 wards. It ran an alcohol
treatment programme as well as carrying
out specialist work around alcohol-related
domestic violence. There was taxi rank
marshalling, dedicated policing in the
centre of Liverpool, conflict resolution work
and training of bar and door staff.
‘Between 2005 and 2009 there was a
30 per cent reduction in levels of crime in
the city centre,’ she told the conference.
‘The success of this is down to multi-
agency work – not meeting for meeting’s
sake, but intelligence-led resourcing,
having the commitment of senior manage-
ment, having specific, achievable action
plans, community engagement and clear
and accountable delivery structures. You
need community-based, multi-agency
initiatives. It’s not just about funding – it’s
about working with your mainstream
resources, the things you’ve already got.’
‘OUR GOAL
is to educate all facets of
society on the responsible sale and
consumption of alcohol,’ said Adam
Chafetz of Washington DC-based TIPS.
Founded in 1982, the organisation had
certifiedmore than 50,000 trainers and 3m
servers worldwide and was now
recognised as the standard for server
training programmes in the US.
The obvious benefits of the training
were to reduce alcohol-related problems,
avoid serving underage people, minimise
property damage by intoxicated people and
‘protect your bottom line’, he said – ‘these
people are in business and if you’re going to
work successfully with them you need to
recognise that.’ It also provided legal
protection, regulation compliance and
enhanced community standing, he said.
TIPS worked with on- and off-sales
premises as well as concessions, gaming
establishments and social functions, and
included information, skills training,
practice and rehearsal scenarios and exam
certification. ‘The programme objectives
are to teach people what to do, but the
most important thing is to build
confidence in your own skills to do
something,’ he said. ‘It’s really difficult to
step into these situations.’
Building confidence
to intervene
MakingLiverpool safe