‘City Safe’ is Launched: Police and Partners Sign up to Pioneering New Scheme to Banish Drunken Yobbish Behaviour from Gloucester
20 February 2008
Gloucester police and their partner agencies are this week launching a pioneering initiative set to enhance the safety, atmosphere and appearance of our City, making it an even more enjoyable place to live, work and visit.
The product of extensive research looking at best practice in towns throughout the world, Gloucester City Safe also aims to promote the local economy with improvements leading to greater investment.
Representatives of the organisations involved, including Gloucestershire Constabulary, the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership, the City Council and the Licensed Victuallers Association, will sign up to the scheme at Gloucester City Council Offices at 12.30pm on Thursday, February 21.
They will put their name to a Memorandum of Understanding, a commitment that they will work together more closely than ever before to achieve the common aim of a City providing greater quality of life for everyone who lives and works here and comes to visit.
Although a generally safe and enjoyable place to live, work and socialise, Gloucester like every major town, is, on occasion, marred by incidents of anti-social behaviour, criminal damage and low-level violence caused by irresponsible drinking.
Over the coming months, the partners will work together to achieve their agreed goal of a safer City by developing new strategies to reduce such loutish conduct. They will not only look at new ways of dealing with the individuals responsible and of preventing alcohol sales to those under age, but consider how the whole infrastructure of the City – from transport arrangements to health care – can help achieve this.
Chief Inspector Roger Clayton who oversees policing in Gloucester said: “We are lucky in that Gloucester city centre is relatively safe but we are not alone in suffering the type of drunken, loutish behaviour that pervades town and city centres across the country each Friday and Saturday night.
“Whilst the main response will take the form of enforcement, there is much that our partners can contribute. I am delighted that we will have the opportunity to work even more closely with the Local Authority, Highways, licensees, door staff, just to name a few in order to eradicate the unacceptable behaviour of a few drunken individuals.
“Over recent months we have conducted research to see how these issues have been addressed elsewhere and consequently we have a whole raft of ideas that will hopefully improve the quality of life for those who live, work, visit or socialise in Gloucester.
“I have a simple message for those who consider it acceptable to commit damage or assault all in the name of a good night out. Expect to be caught and dealt with. Expect to be banned from all city centre pubs for a lengthy period of time. Get used to the idea of spending weekends on your own in the future when your mates go out on the town and you can’t. Expect to be subject to an Acceptable Behaviour Contract which if breached will be addressed accordingly.”
Councillor Paul James, Leader of Gloucester City Council, commented:"We're determined to develop a well-balanced evening economy in the City. Our efforts to bring in investment through Gloucester's regeneration programme need to be matched by careful management of the city centre environment. Working together with our partners is the best way to achieve this."
An example of partnership working set to lead to a reduction in night time crime and disorder concerns transport in the City. For example, police are working with Highways and the City Council on a plan to close a section of Eastgate Street to all vehicles except buses and taxis and emergency vehicles at certain hours.
PC Mark Wood, who has been instrumental in City Safe research and has looked at best practice in towns as far afield as Australia and Canada to come up with development ideas for Gloucester, said: “This will have the effect of a temporary pedestrian zone at the times when most people are out enjoying the City’s night life. During these times you can get hundreds of people who’ve been drinking spilling out onto the street with a kebab in their hand and inevitably it’s a road safety issue as they often walk out in front of vehicles.
“Buses and taxis will, however, still be able to use the road at these times and this will help the dispersal rate. People will be able to get home quicker and there is therefore less chance of them hanging around and causing or getting into trouble.
Under City Safe, there may be a wider review of transport and bus and taxi ranks may be moved. Improved lighting in certain areas will also be up for consideration. In addition, whenever a new development is planned, minimising risks of crime and disorder would be high on the agenda.
“It’s about looking at the infrastructure and designing out opportunities for crime and disorder”, PC Wood explained. “These ideas are built on the successful models employed in cities such as Bristol and Birmingham.”
Other suggestions being considered under the wide-ranging City Safe scheme include setting up a Police Information Point –cum-triage centre in the City Centre.
PC Wood said: “By working with the NHS and St John Ambulance Service to provide a combined PIP and Ambulance Triage Centre in the City Centre, minor injuries would be able to be treated quickly without sending people who may have drunk too much to the hospital where they add to queues and may cause disorder.
“This would improve public safety, maintain resilience and resources for the Ambulance Service and would assist in reducing the number of assaults on NHS staff by people who are drunk. The PIP element would also allow minor crimes to be recorded close to the scene without tying up the Control Room and call takers and officers could issue crime prevention reminders to those who may have forgotten some basic messages after a few drinks.”
Surveys focusing revellers’ attention on how much they have had to drink, conducted by officers with breath-testing equipment, may also be implemented to improve the safety of our roads.
Health-related information and advice on responsible drinking would also be available.
City Safe could also lead to the further development of the on-line Pubwatch system. Under this scheme, photos of those who have been barred from licensed premises go on a secure website which landlords can access to aid enforcement.
The latest idea, involving the LVA, the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, and the Gloucestershire Drug and Alcohol Service as well as the police, is for those who are banned to be quickly and automatically referred for help to address their behaviour.
PC Wood explained: “We have identified that in almost 100 per cent of cases, the offenders have a criminal past and often a history of offending while under the influence of alcohol.
“Under this scheme, whenever a person is placed on a Pubwatch ban, there will be an automatic referral to the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit where they will be assessed for suitability for an Acceptable Behaviour Contract. One of the conditions would be a referral to GDAS so the underlying causes of the alcohol or drug-related element of their behaviour can be addressed by trained councillors within the field and further referrals to other agencies made if necessary.
“This is an ideal way in which partners of various areas of expertise can work together to make a real difference to improving the safety and atmosphere of the City.”
Referrals to GDAS are already made for those arrested for alcohol-related offences and this will be further developed.
PC Wood said: “The scheme has a very good track record, with a high number of those referred not re-offending in the following 12 months.
“Nationally, 35 per cent of arrests are deemed to be alcohol-related. This represents a large portion of the crime and disorder in the City. Assuming an 80 per cent success rate of people not re-offending in 12 months under the referral scheme, then if all alcohol-related arrests were placed on the scheme there is the potential for a 24 per cent reduction in alcohol-related crime and disorder over a rolling 24-month period.
“Allied to the other referral routes, this would bring about a very noticeable reduction in crime and disorder on the streets of the City and boost public confidence.
“Those volunteering to attend the course are rewarded in court by being placed on a lower rung of the scale of fines. This incentive has the added benefit of empowering the individual to make a change out of choice.”
Further initiatives, some of which are already beginning, include greater information sharing between licensees and police enabling resources to be better targeted and incidents of disorder to therefore be more effectively prevented.
It is also hoped that door staff will be provided with further training under the scheme to help them prevent incidents of crime or disorder and to reduce the number of offences committed against them.
It is further envisaged that training for licensees will be enhanced to further decrease sales of alcohol to those under age. Irresponsible drinking by young people is a major cause of anti-social behaviour affecting residents’quality of life and better education in this area would therefore have a beneficial impact.
Chief Inspector Clayton said: “City Safe is intended to achieve improvements for the city both in the short term and further in to the future. We want to stop the alcohol- related antisocial behaviour and violence now. We also want to make our city an attractive and safe place worthy of the planned investment and development.”
Community Safety Manager for Gloucester, Sue Tilley, said: “This is a big project and the first of its kind for Gloucester. Key to its success is the multi-agency approach.”
Members of the media are invited to attend the sign-up. If you would like to, please e-mail annabel.brittain@gloucestershire.police.uk by 5pm on Wednesday, February 20. Those who will attend include Chief Superintendent Nigel Avron, Chief Inspector Roger Clayton, PC Mark Wood and Licensing Officer PC Guy Hall. Representatives of the county and city councils, the CDRP, city centre management, Trading Standards, Highways, Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service and the LVA are also likely to be present.
.