The night-time economy (NTE), defined by the Local Government Association as “a wide range of activities from a trip to the theatre or a family meal to a night out at a club”, has been the subject of criminological scrutiny for many years, largely due to its association with alcohol consumption, substance misuse, and violence.
Alcohol, in particular, is commonly linked to violent crimes. The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities places it as a factor in 40 percent of all violent crimes in England, and Alcohol Change at 39 percent in England and 49 percent in Wales. Not only do such incidents have a significant impact on people’s ability to feel and be safe in their local areas, but they also bear a substantial economic impact.
In 2018, the Home Office estimated the total cost of crime in England and Wales between 2015-2016 to be £50 billion, with violent crime accounting for almost three quarters of this figure. In London, alcohol-related harm accounts for 35 percent of all accident & emergency (A&E) attendances and up to 70 percent of all attendances at peak times over weekends. Furthermore, in 2016 the Metropolitan Police reported that roughly 27 percent of all calls to the police had “an alcohol factor behind them”.
The Police and Crime Committee of the London Assembly have previously noted that statistics relating to alcohol-fuelled crime are limited in reliability as “there is no agreed definition of ‘alcohol-related’ or ‘alcohol-fuelled crime’”. Typically, an alcohol-related violent incident is recorded “where the victim perceived the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident”. The report by the Police and Crime Committee, released in 2016, noted that the Home Office was exploring whether a definition of alcohol-fuelled violence and a national ‘flag’ should be introduced and used in the reporting of crime. However, it appears there has been no change in the definition since. Establishing a definition of this kind could improve analytical capabilities and support police forces to better target interventions into alcohol-related incidents. As such, it is recommended that the Home Office revisits introducing a specific definition which is less reliant upon subjective factors such as the victim’s perception of an incident.
The College of Policing has collated evidence on a number of initiatives aimed at reducing violence in the NTE which experienced mixed results.or are currently undergoing evaluation. Currently, the evidence summarised which demonstrates positive results can be broken into two categories: increased police presence and other night-time economy interventions. Historically, there have been concerns expressed by police forces that financial retrenchment has restricted their ability to effectively dedicate resources to policing the NTE. For example, in 2016, officers in the Metropolitan Police Force noted that changes in shift patterns were necessary to achieve this goal, with many retained on duty at the end of shifts. The Mayor of London has committed to allocating 500 of the officers recruited during the Police Uplift Programme to forming the new Town Centre Teams, with a further 150 officers being deployed as dedicated ward officers (DWO) in the busiest wards.
Increased Police Presence
The most recently available evidence for whether increasing police presence has an impact comes from a 2020 systematic review of evidence-based practice by McGuire, Evans, & Kane. Police patrols in the NTE can broadly be divided into targeted and untargeted interventions. The review found that “untargeted measures that heighten office presence in and around licensed premises, as well as increased monitoring of licence law violations” typically produce mixed results with respect to police recorded assaults and violence.
On the other hand, targeted police involvement involving collaboration with local agencies which focuses on specific licensed presences that have a history of violence problems are more effective. However, case studies which underpin this conclusion, such as the TASC project, were conducted in 2003 and therefore may not fully reflect the conditions of the modern night-time economy.
Multi-level community interventions
Even more effective than targeted and collaborative interventions were approaches that took a holistic approach, involving a number of stakeholders such as licence holders and law enforcement whose objectives were aligned. These programmes are more complex and involve components such as stricter enforcement of licensing laws, community information campaigns, training for bar and door staff, and police engagement of licensees in considering aspects of bar management that can reduce risk factors.
The evidence for interventions of this type are more recent, with a notable study having been conducted in 2019 by Quigg. Their research examined the Stockholm Prevents Alcohol and Drug Problems (STAD) model and found it to have positive results across a number of settings in mainland Europe. For example, the authors concluded that the model had shown “significant reductions in access, consumption and harms across nightlife settings” as well as positive impacts “across communities surrounding the nightlife setting (e.g. crime reduction)”. Two notable projects involving the STAD model have been undertaken in England and Wales, one in Wrexham and one across Cheshire and Merseyside, both of which yielded positive results.
Case Study 3: STAD in Wrexham
One such intervention was also trialled in Wrexham, Wales, and concerned attempts to enact behavioural change in multiple stakeholder groups including participants in the night-time economy, licensees, and door and bar staff. The intervention involved:
Community Mobilisation:
A multi-agency steering group including the local authority (Trading Standards, Licensing, Community safety and Communications), North Wales Police, Public Health Wales, youth services, education, and the Liverpool John Moores University
Community engagement with licensees, door security personnel, and young people at local educational establishments
An awareness raising campaign through email, blogs, posters, local and national press, and social media. The campaign covered legislation around the sale and purchase of alcohol for intoxicated people, as well as the vulnerability associated with drinking before going to a venue.
Training:
Responsible beverage service train the trainer style training provided to licensees and heads of door security on alcohol legislation and vulnerability associated with intoxication
Training on alcohol vulnerability with captains of university clubs and societies
Enforcement:
Police engagement with the licensing trade to cultivate self-policing practices, prevent the sale of alcohol to already-intoxicated people, and reinforcement by officers policing nightlife
Outcomes:
The following positive outcomes were observed:
Figure 11: Percentage of participants who held knowledge of the laws around the service of alcohol to, and the purchase of alcohol for intoxicated people pre (2017) and post-intervention (2018) user survey. Source:Quigg et al., 2019.
Figure 12: Bar server propensity to refuse alcohol to pseudo-intoxicated actors, pre (2017) and post (2018) alcohol test purchases. Source: Quigg et al., 2019.
Challenges:
A number of barriers to the successful implementation of the model were identified. The first of which was limited resources, both in terms of finances and staff time, meaning that some of the planned components such as engaging with taxi drivers were not carried out.
This factor carries over to the second barrier, which was limited high-level (e.g. national) support that meant further resources to deliver ‘drink less, enjoy more’ messages could not be distributed through social media advertising. Thirdly, the tiered training model meant that stakeholders were unable to ascertain whether the training had been cascaded down properly and reached all door and bar staff. Fourthly, in spite of the steering group, there were varying levels of involvement from its members meaning that an operational sub-group comprising three core stakeholders implemented the majority of the intervention.
Plenary:
Authors of the evaluation for this study noted that the evidence for the effectiveness of this intervention was less potent than those in mainland Europe, “potentially due to intervention fidelity and/or variations in cultural or structural factors between settings”.As such, further implementation and evaluation “is crucial for informing future prevention efforts to address the harmful use of alcohol across European drinking environments”.
In spite of the barriers faced in delivering the initiative in Wrexham, the model still produced tangible positive results which could contribute to future attempts to address challenges posed by the NTE. However, this is contingent upon addressing the barriers experienced throughout the trial and securing a suitable vehicle for delivering a retrial of the STAD. One such vehicle is the Safer City Partnership (SCP) of London, which is well placed to undertake such a project for several reasons. Firstly, the Square Mile (the key geographical remit of the partnership) was identified by the City of London Corporation to have “a large and growing Night Time Economy, which poses health and safety issues for those who live, learn, work and visit there”. Secondly, according to the same source “levels of alcohol consumption and alcohol related harm for workers in the Square Mile is significantly higher than the England average”. Thirdly, both the City of London Corporation and the SCP (of which the former is a partner) have previously acknowledged and identified these challenges as key priorities in their strategies. Fourthly, the SCP is well positioned to respond to the majority of barriers experienced throughout the initial trial of the STAD model in England and Wales. The partnership has access to revenues derived from the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), which it has previously allocated to initiatives attempting to deal with anti-social behaviour (ASB) and improve the extent to which people are safe and feel safe in the night-time economy. This funding could be used to address the under-resourcing which inhibited the fidelity with which the model was implemented. In addition, unlike the steering group organised to oversee the implementation of the Wrexham initiative, the SCP is an established governance structure with well defined ways of working. In conclusion, the SCP should consider utilising revenue derived from POCA seizures to retrial the STAD model in the context of London’s Square Mile.