Alcohol Alcohol Consumption in Public Places
Designation Orders: Best Practice
Case Studies
City Centre Safe - Manchester
The City Centre Safe initiative was launched in September 2000 in an attempt to deal with a rapidly expanding night time economy which had seen an increase of 242% in the capacity of licensed premises in Manchester city centre between 1997-1999. In turn, as the number of pubs and clubs increased, so did alcohol related violent crime, which soared by 225 % over the same period.
It quickly became apparent that to be effective the scheme needed to look at the problem of late night violence on an holistic basis working with as many partners as possible from all sectors of the economy. For example, a major cause of late night crime was the inability of people to get home safely after a night out. Quite simply, the city's infrastructure had failed to keep pace with numbers of late night revellers which could swell to anything up to 100,000 on a busy Friday or Saturday night. So, City Centre Safe worked in partnership with bus companies, the Passenger Transport Authority and the City Council to obtain the introduction of late night buses operating over the weekend. These commenced in November 2001 and now carry 20,000 people out of the city centre each weekend.
Driven by Greater Manchester Police the initiative works to achieve four main aims which are;
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To reduce the number of serious assaults and glass related injuries.
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To work in partnership with the licensed trade to improve the management of licensed premises.
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To promote the provision of safe drinking.
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To reduce the perception of drunkenness, rowdiness and disorder in Manchester City Centre.
Two years on the project now boasts over 20 separate initiatives, many unique to Manchester, that seek to address a wide range of issues impacting on night time crime and disorder. Initiatives include;
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targeted policing models,
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private cost policing,
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late night transport,
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crime prevention-safety glasses,
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nite net radio, and
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multi -agency structured licensing visits and a licensing enforcement unit.
The City Centre Safe Unit, based at Bootle Street Police Station, works with a series of partners on all the above initiatives. The project has been successful in halting the rise in violent crime. In the financial year 2000 / 2001 the number of serious assaults in Manchester City Centre fell by 8.1 %. In 2001/ 2002 a further 12.3 % reduction was achieved.
City Centre Safe has been recognised for it's expertise in these areas and offers help and advice on issues relating to the night time economy not only to areas in Greater Manchester but all over the UK and overseas.
What has been learnt?
Enforcement of the confiscation powers within the byelaw area is absolutely central to the ethos of early intervention.
Rigorous and frequent high profile uniform enforcement is the backbone of successful alcohol byelaw and the alcohol confiscation powers.
To be successful a police individual or police unit needs to have specific ownership of the problem and the continuous supply of resources to solve it.
To be effective, the enforcement of the alcohol byelaw and confiscation powers need to be strongly tied in to targeted policing. This will help to prevent violent crime and increase public reassurance.
Targeted enforcement activity around alcohol-related crime and disorder needs to be supported by a high profile public information/marketing campaign. Physical crime prevention support such as secure bottle bins should also be used.
For further information about city centre safe
Visit the website at www.citycentresafe.com or alternatively contact:
Sergeant Tim Whittaker
Tel: 0161 856 3171
Email: timothy.whittaker@gmp.pnn.police.uk
Last update: Tuesday, July 24, 2007