Crime Reduction - Helping to Reduce Crime in Your Area

The TASC project has been operating in the Cardiff area since July 2000. The detailed evaluation of the initiative looks at the implementations of the scheme, and local data mapping. It examines costs and cost-effectiveness, before drawing conclusions on the success of the project and giving examples of key good practice.

Title: Reducing alcohol-related violence and disorder: an evaluation of the 'TASC' project
Authors: Mike Maguire and Hilary Nettleton with the assistance of Andrew Rix and Stephen Raybould
Series: Home Office Research Study 265
Number of pages: 92
Date published: March 2003

Background

The Tackling Alcohol-related Street Crime (TASC) project was a police-led multi-agency scheme launched in July 2000 under the Home Office Targeted Policing Initiative, with the aim of reducing alcohol-related crime and disorder in central Cardiff and Cardiff Bay. Its interventions included:

• focused dialogue between the police and members of the licensed trade, mainly through an active Licensees Forum;

• measures aimed at improving the quality and behaviour of door staff;

• attempts to influence licensing policy and practice;

• measures aimed at publicising the problem of alcohol-related violent crime;

• targeted policing operations directed at crime and disorder 'hot spots';

• a cognitive behavioural programme for repeat offenders ('COV-AID');

• a training programme for bar staff ('Servewise');

• a programme of education about alcohol for school age children; and

• support for victims of alcohol-related assaults attending hospital.

The project created a dedicated database, maintained by the data analyst, which combined information from police sources and the local hospital. This revealed that:

• alcohol related incidents were heavily concentrated on Friday and Saturday nights. Sixty-one per cent involved physical violence, the remainder 'disorder';

• over half (most of them violent) occurred in or just outside licensed premises. Incidents of disorder were more likely to occur elsewhere on the streets;

• most of those involved as offenders or victims were young white males. Forty-two per cent of arrestees had previous arrests for violence or public order offences;

• 'door staff' were involved as victims or alleged assailants in 16 per cent of all violent incidents. Sixty-one were arrested over the 30 month period monitored;

• the most common form of assault was punching or kicking, but at least 10 per cent of cases involved bottles or glasses; the use of knives was rare; and

• most injuries were minor, but 15 per cent of assault victims suffered broken bones and 12 per cent major cuts.

Outcomes

A comparison of the first 12 months after the launch of the project with the previous 12 months indicated an overall decrease of four per cent in incidents involving alcohol-related assaults. This occurred despite a ten per cent increase in licensed premise capacity in central Cardiff. During the same period, incidents of violence against the person rose elsewhere in South Wales. The researchers' best estimate is that, during its first year, the project helped to reduce the expected level of violent incidents by eight per cent: that is, it prevented about 100 assaults. If it is assumed that just one (or more) of these incidents would have involved a serious wounding, cost-effectiveness analysis suggests that the project represented 'value for money'.

By contrast, there was a 49 per cent increase in incidents of alcohol-related disorder. However, this is a much more slippery concept than 'alcohol-related assault', and the figures given are more susceptible to changes in police recording practices. Even if the figures are accepted at face value, two important qualifications should be noted:

1. The rise slowed markedly during the evaluation period: the increases for the first three six-month periods after launch, compared to the equivalent period of the year before, were 75 per cent, 29 per cent and 3 per cent.

2. Virtually all the rise in disorder was accounted for by one street in Cardiff, which had the densest concentration of pubs and clubs and several newly opened premises.

There were significant reductions in violent and disorderly incidents occurring in or just outside individual pubs and clubs which were the subject of carefully targeted policing operations. The most successful of these, lasting eight weeks, was followed by reductions of 41 per cent and 36 per cent in such incidents in and around the two clubs targeted. The reductions were also sustained over time. Operations targeted at whole streets, rather than individual premises, were less successful.

Overall, the TASC project was most successful in terms of its targeted work with individual premises. Its most fruitful partnership arrangements were with the Licensees Forum. Joint attempts were made to improve security arrangements (including staff training) both generally and in premises where the TASC database indicated that the numbers of incidents were high or rising.

On the other hand, it was less successful in persuading 'key players ' in the County Council, breweries or other relevant companies to adopt broader strategic approaches to the prevention of late night violence and disorder. Its best achievements here were improved registration, training and disciplinary systems for door staff. However, it made little headway in influencing planning policy or in slowing the expansion of licensed premises in 'saturated' areas of Cardiff. It also failed to get general agreement to changes in alcohol marketing strategies. It is argued that, while better management of individual premises is necessary to the reduction of alcohol-related violence and disorder, attention to wider issues arising from the growth of the 'night time economy' is vital to the long term success of crime prevention in this field.

Key examples of 'good practice'

• The creation of effective links with managers of licensed premises, especially through an active Licensees Forum.

• A well resourced project team, including a manager of sufficient rank and experience and an analyst with good access to police data systems, combined with full integration of the project into police objectives and priorities.

• The maintenance of an accurate and up-to-date dedicated database, drawing on both police and hospital sources, used not only to identify emerging problems, but to guide remedial visits to licensed premises.

• The development of standard training, registration and disciplinary systems for door staff in the city.

• Wide promotion of the project's objectives using a range of innovative sources eg bus campaigns, websites and electronic public information display screens.

• Attempts to engage major players in both the public and private sectors in broader dialogue about the strategic management of the 'late night economy'.

Download "Reducing alcohol-related violence and disorder: an evaluation of the 'TASC' project" PDF 286Kb