What is Staffordshire Police doing?

There are many ways in which Staffordshire Police works with its partners to tackle alcohol-related problems. Among these are:

enforcement – much work has been done to identify hot-spot areas. Intensive high-visibility policing of these areas both deters offenders and increases arrests
partnership working with licensed premises. An example of this is the Pubwatch scheme
education – with our partners, raising awareness of the risks of alcohol misuse and reinforcing the sensible drinking message
challenging the granting and conditions of licences through the magistrates’ courts where they give cause for concern
initiatives to raise awareness of drink spiking through the Spike initiative
media campaigns and other communication activities targeting drinkers.

Nationally produced figures show:

men are more likely to binge drink than women (though alcohol consumption among young women is rising)
binge drinkers are more likely to offend than other young adults
sixty per cent of binge drinkers admit involvement in criminal and/or disorder
the link between drinking and offending is particularly strong for violent crimes
a key group who are causing most harm to themselves and their communities are 18-24-year-old binge drinkers. A minority of whom are responsible for the majority of alcohol-related crime and disorder in the night-time economy
young people aged 16-24 are significantly more likely than people in other age groups to consume more than twice the recommended sensible drinking limit
of men aged 16-24, 30 per cent drink at a harmful level
of 16-24-year-old women, 22 per cent drink a harmful amount of alcohol on at least one day a week
around half of all violent incidents take place at the weekend with the majority taking place between midnight and 6am
in 2005/06, about a fifth (17 per cent) of all violent incidents nationally were committed in or around pubs or clubs
more than a third of all arrests are alcohol related (Source: Home Office BCS 2005-06).
a quarter of young people get into arguments or fights as a result of drinking alcohol (Source: Home Office BCS 2005-06)
fourty four per cent of victims of violence thought their attacker was under the influence of alcohol (Source: Home Office BCS 2005-06).

Staffordshire Police