Abstract
Objectives: Licensed premises are associated with a considerable level of alcohol-related harm. This study examined the effectiveness of an educational policing strategy, implemented as routine policing practice, to reduce the number of patrons of licensed premises involved in police-recorded incidents of violence, disorder and motor vehicle crashes.
Participants: The educational policing strategy targeted on-licensed premises registered as operating in 2003. The strategy was delivered by police and was overseen by the research team.
Setting: The intervention was conducted in 21 non-metropolitan New South Wales Police Force commands.
Intervention: On the basis of routinely collected and recorded police data, premises received one of three levels of police response on three separate occasions from December 2002 to July 2003. The police responses were letters, incident reports, covert audits and feedback meetings.
Outcomes: The rate of patrons who had last consumed alcohol on licensed premises before being involved in police-recorded incidents decreased from 1.24 per premises in the 4-month baseline period to 1.11 in the 4-month follow-up period (p=0.08). There was a significant reduction, from 7.08 to 5.65 patrons (p=0.03), in such a rate for high-risk premises that received the most intensive police response. High-risk premises also recorded a significant reduction in the rate of intoxicated patrons involved in such incidents, from 5.50 to 4.40 (p=0.05).
Conclusion: The findings suggest a potential benefit of an educational policing strategy in reducing alcohol-related harm associated with licensed premises. Further implementation of this strategy concurrent with rigorous evaluation is warranted.
Key words: Alcohol intoxication, crime, law enforcement, police, harm reduction
Résumé
Objectifs: Les débits de boissons sont associés à un niveau considérable de méfaits liés à l’alcool. Nous avons examiné l’efficacité d’une stratégie policière éducative, appliquée dans le cadre de contrôles policiers de routine, pour réduire le nombre de clients des débits de boissons impliqués dans des incidents de violence, de désordre et d’accidents d’automobile enregistrés par la police.
Participants: La stratégie policière éducative ciblait les débits de boissons autorisés en activité en 2003. Elle a été exécutée par la police et supervisée par l’équipe de recherche.
Lieu: L’intervention a été menée dans 21 postes de police situés à l’extérieur des régions urbaines en Nouvelle-Galles du Sud.
Intervention: Les débits de boissons ont reçu l’un de trois niveaux de mesures policières à trois occasions différentes entre décembre 2002 et juillet 2003, sur la base de données policières couramment recueillies et enregistrées. Ces mesures étaient des lettres, des rapports d’incidents, des audits secrets et des rencontres de rétroaction.
Résultats: Le taux de clients ayant consommé de l’alcool dans un débit de boissons juste avant d’être impliqués dans un incident enregistré par la police a diminué, passant de 1,24 par débit au cours de la période de référence de quatre mois à 1,11 durant la période de suivi de quatre mois (p=0,08). Il y a eu une baisse significative, de 7,08 à 5,65 clients (p=0,03), dans ce taux pour les débits à risque élevé qui avaient fait l’objet de la mesure policière la plus intensive. Les débits à risque élevé ont aussi connu une baisse significative de leur taux de clients en état d’ébriété impliqués dans de tels incidents, soit de 5,50 à 4,40 (p=0,05).
Conclusion: Ces résultats montrent qu’une stratégie policière éducative pourrait avoir l’avantage de réduire les méfaits liés à l’alcool associés aux débits de boissons. Une mise en œuvre plus poussée de la stratégie, conjointement avec une évaluation rigoureuse, se justifie.
Mots clés: intoxication alcoolique, crime, application de la loi, police, réduction des méfaits
Footnotes
Acknowledgements: The contribution of the NSW Police Force to this project is appreciated. AER Foundation, an independent company that supports research into the prevention of alcohol-related harm, funded the project.
Conflict of Interest: None to declare.
References
- 1.Collins DJ, Lapsley HM. The Costs of Tobacco, Alcohol and Illicit Drug Abuse to Australian Society in 2004/05. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia; 2008. [Google Scholar]
- 2.Rehm J, Baliunas D, Brochu S, Fischer B, Gnam W, Patra J, et al. The Costs of Substance Abuse in Canada 2002. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse; 2006. [Google Scholar]
- 3.National Preventative Health Taskforce Alcohol Working Group. Australia: The Healthiest Country by 2020. Preventing Alcohol-Related Harm in Australia: A Window of Opportunity. Barton: Commonwealth of Australia; 2009. [Google Scholar]
- 4.Babor T, Caetano R, Casswell S, Edwards G, Giesbrecht N, Graham K, et al. Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity. Research and Public Policy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; 2003. [Google Scholar]
- 5.Toomey TL, Wagenaar AC, Erickson DJ, Fletcher LA, Patrek W, Lenk KM. Illegal alcohol sales to obviously intoxicated patrons at licensed establishments. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2004;28(5):769–74. doi: 10.1097/01.ALC.0000125350.73156.FF. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 6.Budd T. Alcohol-related Assault: Findings from the British Crime Survey. 2003. [Google Scholar]
- 7.Wood LJ, McLean S, Davidson J, Montgomery IM. One for the road: On the utility of citation data for identifying problem hotels. Drug Alcohol Rev. 1995;14(1):115–24. doi: 10.1080/09595239500185121. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 8.National Drug Research Institute. Restrictions on the Sale and Supply of Alcohol: Evidence and Outcomes. Perth, AU: National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology; 2007. [Google Scholar]
- 9.Homel R. Policing and Punishing the Drinking Driver: A Study of General and Specific Deterrence. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag; 1988. [Google Scholar]
- 10.Jeffs BW, Saunders WM. Minimizing alcohol related offences by enforcement of the existing licensing legislation. Br J Addict. 1983;78(1):67–77. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1983.tb02482.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 11.Burns L, Flaherty B, Ireland S, Frances M. Policing pubs: What happens to crime? Drug Alcohol Rev. 1995;14(4):369–75. doi: 10.1080/09595239500185501. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 12.Sim M, Morgan E, Batchelor J. The Impact of Enforcement on Intoxication and Alcohol Related Harm. Wellington, AU: Accident Compensation Corporation; 2005. [Google Scholar]
- 13.Warburton AL, Shepherd JP. Tackling alcohol related violence in city centres: Effect of emergency medicine and police intervention. Emerg Med J. 2006;23(1):12–17. doi: 10.1136/emj.2004.023028. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 14.Putnam SL, Rockett IRH, Campbell MK. Methodological issues in community-based alcohol-related injury prevention projects: Attribution of program effects. In: Greenfield TK, Zimmerman R, editors. Experiences with Community Action Projects: New Research in the Prevention of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services; 1993. pp. 31–42. [Google Scholar]
- 15.McKnight AJ, Streff FM. The effect of enforcement upon service of alcohol to intoxicated patrons of bars and restaurants. Accid Anal Prev. 1994;26(1):79–88. doi: 10.1016/0001-4575(94)90070-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 16.Wiggers J, Jauncey M, Considine R, Daly J, Kingsland M, Purss K, et al. Strategies and outcomes in translating alcohol harm reduction research into practice: The Alcohol Linking Program. Drug Alcohol Rev. 2004;23(3):355–64. doi: 10.1080/09595230412331289518. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 17.Graham K. Preventive interventions for on-premise drinking: A promising but underresearched area of prevention. Contemp Drug Probl. 2000;27:593–668. doi: 10.1177/009145090002700307. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 18.Rowe SC, Wiggers JH, Wolfenden L, Francis JL. Establishments licensed to serve alcohol and their contribution to police-recorded crime: Further opportunities for harm reduction. J Stud Alcohol Drug. 2010;71(6):909–16. doi: 10.15288/jsad.2010.71.909. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 19.Braga AA, Weisburd DL, Waring EJ, Mazerolle LG, Spelman W, Gajewski F. Problem-oriented policing in violent crime places: A randomized controlled experiment. Criminology. 1999;37(3):541–80. doi: 10.1111/j.1745-9125.1999.tb00496.x. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 20.Homel R, McIlwain G, Carvolth R. Creating safer drinking environments. In: Heather N, Peters TJ, Stockwell T, editors. International Handbook of Alcohol Dependence and Problems. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons; 2001. pp. 721–40. [Google Scholar]
- 21.Australian Bureau of Statistics. CD ATA 2001. Canberra, AU: Australian Bureau of Statistics; 2003. [Google Scholar]
- 22.Teplin LA, Lutz GW. Measuring alcohol intoxication: The development, reliability and validity of an observational instrument. J Stud Alcohol. 1985;46(6):459–66. doi: 10.15288/jsa.1985.46.459. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 23.NSW Office of Liquor GamingRacing. Intoxication Guidelines. Sydney, AU: NSW Office of Liquor Gaming & Racing; 2008. [Google Scholar]
- 24.Donnelly N, Briscoe S. Intelligence-led regulation of licensed premises. In: Stockwell T, Gruenewald PJ, Toumbourou JW, Loxley W, editors. Preventing Harmful Substance Use: the Evidence Base for Policy and Practice. West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons; 2005. pp. 257–66. [Google Scholar]
- 25.Chan J. Changing police culture. Br J Criminol. 1996;36(1):109–34. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.bjc.a014061. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 26.Glasgow RE, Lichtenstein E, Marcus AC. Why don’t we see more translation of health promotion research to practice? Rethinking the efficacy-to-effectiveness transition. Am J Public Health. 2003;93(8):1261–66. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.93.8.1261. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 27.Barnett AG, van der Pols JC, Dobson AJ. Regression to the mean: What it is and how to deal with it. Int J Epidemiology. 2005;34(1):215–20. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyh299. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 28.Stockwell T, Chikritzhs T, Brinkman S. The role of social and health statistics in measuring harm from alcohol. J Subst Abuse. 2000;12(1–2):139–54. doi: 10.1016/S0899-3289(00)00046-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 29.Australian Institute of HealthWelfare. 2004 National Drug Strategy Household Survey: First Results. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare; 2005. [Google Scholar]
- 30.Moffat S, Goh D, Fitzgerald J. New South Wales Recorded Crime Statistics 2002. Sydney: New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research; 2004. [Google Scholar]
- 31.Jobes PC. Human ecology and rural policing: A grounded theoretical analysis of how personal constraints and community characteristics influence strategies of law enforcement in rural New South Wales, Australia. Police Practice Res. 2003;4(1):3–19. doi: 10.1080/1561426032000059150. [DOI] [Google Scholar]