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Violent Crime Falls Following Blitz on Alcohol Related Disorder
Violent crime fell by 11 per cent during the Christmas blitz on alcohol related disorder, the Government announced today.
The six week campaign, which began in November last year, focused on tackling alcohol related behaviour and targeting those selling alcohol to children. During the campaign police and trading standards officers carried out over 6,000 test purchase operations, dealt with more that 30,000 offences and made over 25,000 arrests.
Provisional data from forces shows that in the areas that took part in the campaign, more serious violent crime also fell by 21 per cent, the biggest drop of all previous alcohol crackdowns.
Police force data from the Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaign (AMEC) show that:
All violent crime decreased by 11 per cent during the campaign;
Serious violent crime decreased by 21 per cent; within this category wounding and other acts endangering life fell by 14 per cent;
During the six week campaign police dealt with 33,358 offences;
Police and partners visited 27,154 licensed premises (21,995 on and 5,159 off licence);
25,486 arrests were made;
Out of test purchase operations, 29 per cent of on licence and 19 per cent of off licence premises were found to be selling to minors;
Police issued 8,179 fixed penalty notices - 38 per cent for being drunk and disorderly, 37 per cent for public order offences and harassment, 10 per cent for selling to minors and 15 per cent for other alcohol-related offences;
649 summonses were issued as a result of test-purchase operations or visits, including:
- 593 for selling to minors;
- 17 for selling to drunks;
- 39 for other alcohol offences.
Mr Clarke said:
"Today's figures are a credit to all those committed to tackling alcohol related disorder. Delivering results, reducing violent crime and underage sales in local communities takes us another step closer to removing such unacceptable behaviour from our streets.
"It is the Governments intentions to eliminate once and for all the sale of alcohol to children and it is encouraging to see our recent work with the supermarkets has resulted in an initial improvement, with a drop in test purchase failure rates to 17 per cent from almost 50 per cent over the summer. The failure rate for pubs has also reduced, and now lies at just under 30 per cent. These figures are still too high but nonetheless represent a significant achievement.
"The police work that has lead to the success of AMEC will now continue on a daily basis as part of everyday mainstream police activities to help drive home the message that we will not allow the drunken behaviour of the minority to impact the lives of the decent majority of people who enjoy a sensible drink with family and friends."
Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell said:
"We won’t eradicate alcohol-related crime and disorder overnight, we know that.
"But today’s figures show a problem in the process of being dealt with. They send a clear message to rogue traders and drink fuelled troublemakers everywhere - we’re using the full weight of the law to come after you.
"And, thanks to the new licensing laws, the police and local authorities have joined forces to use tougher powers to deal with the problem at the source. We’ll be checking over coming months to ensure the new laws are having a tangible, positive effect on the streets of our town and city centres."
ACPO lead for Alcohol, Chief Constable Michael Craik, said:
"Drunken violence and disorder will not be tolerated. This AMEC campaign has shown just what can be achieved when police and their partners focus on an issue of major public concern.
"The figures speak for themselves. What is important now is that we continue to develop the strategy, tactics and leadership of this campaign into mainstream policing, so that we can build public trust and confidence in our ability to tackle alcohol related disorder throughout the rest of the year."
Notes to Editors
AMEC 3 was a six week police campaign running from the 12 November 2005 to 24 December 2005. See Press Notice 175/2005 dated 15 November 2005. The Home Office dedicated £2.5 million for AMEC 3 to help fund a range of specialist operations including:
• issuing of fixed penalty notices for alcohol related disorder;
• test purchasing activity to target underage sales;
• early intervention using CCTV to diffuse potential disorder;
• closure of premises using existing and tough new powers in the Licensing Act 2003; and
• multi-agency enforcement action against problem premises/retailers. Test purchase results for the individual supermarkets for AMEC 3 show:
Store Mini-AMEC Amec 3 Asda 42.5% 7% Co-op (all companies) 47.2% 17% Morrisons 46.1% 14% Sainsbury's 30% 16% Somerfield 44% 20% Tesco 52.7% 16% Waitrose 22%
The Government published the Violent Crime Reduction Bill on 8 June 2005 which includes a package of measures to reduce alcohol-fuelled violence:
• Alcohol Disorder Zones which will require licensed premises to contribute to the cost of alcohol-related crime and disorder in specific areas where it has been identified as a problem;
• Exclude individuals responsible for alcohol-related disorder from entering licensed premises by imposing "Drinking Banning Orders" which could run for up to two years;
• Create powers for the police to ban the sale of alcohol from licensed premises for up to 48 hours for selling alcohol to under 18's; and
• Provide police with the power to exclude individuals at risk of carrying out alcohol-related crime and disorder from a specific area for up to 48 hours. The campaign was supported by two hard-hitting posters warning of the penalties for drunk and disorderly behaviour. The posters depict a young man urinating against a wall following a night out, leaving a stream of one pound coins pouring down the drain; and a pile of vomit in the shape of £80. The strap line is "Get drunk and disorderly, get arrested and an £80 fine". PDF copies of the posters are available for media.
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The Home Office department of the UK government have released statistics claiming an 11 percent drop in violent crime over the 2005 Christmas period, with a 21 percent drop in 'serious violent crime'. 

This drop in violent crime coincided with a six week police campaign, aimed at reducing the level of alcohol related disorders. Home Secretary Charles Clarke said "these figures are a credit to all those committed to tackling alcohol related disorder. Delivering results, reducing violent crime and underage sales in local communities takes us another step closer to removing such unacceptable behaviour from our streets."

The police campaign followed the introduction of new UK licensing laws which allow pubs and bars to potentially open for longer than the previous 11PM curfew, with '24 hour' opening a possibility. Critics, including the opposition Conservative party, had predicted that this would lead to a rise in drunken behaviour. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, a strong proponent of the new laws, said of the statistics "thanks to the new licensing laws, the police and local authorities have joined forces to use tougher powers to deal with the problem at the source."

The Conservative Party are accusing the government of spinning the statistics, suggesting that the drop in violent crime was due to the police campaign. Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said "what this shows is that if you put more bobbies on the street you will cut crime. However these figures are a result of a six-week crack down on violence which cost £2.5m - what happens when this money runs out?"