Cops’ yellow cards to stop drunk thugs

Title – Cops’ yellow cards to stop drunk thugs
Source – London Lite
Date – 8th September 2008

Used sensibly these are the kind of measures that will be welcomed by premises licence holders, personal licence holders and door supervisors alike. They compliment schemes such as Pubwatch and show that there is a common purpose between the police, licensing authorities and licensed premises operators and that each has their role to play.

It has long been our attitude that these three bodies need to be working more closely to combat the problems and to stop working against each other.

There is obviously a need to address those irresponsible alcohol retailers out there, but the overwhelming message we send out to personal licence holders and premises licence holders is that by working with the police and local authorities they become part of the solution, rather than being part of the problem. It is still amazing the amount of retailers that believe the authorities are intent on working against them and it is this mentality that makes them defensive and reclusive rather than proactive. The conclusion is always the same, the proactive premises get the support of the authorities and the reclusive ones are looked upon with suspicion and ultimately waste time, effort and money defending their position and miss out on valuable intelligence and advice.

It is much more expensive for a premises licence holder to ‘police’ their premises with door supervisors and increased fixed security technology, than to co-operate with the local police and allow them through initiatives such as this ‘Yellow Card’ scheme to do it for them. The threat of ‘paid policing’ is already here with the potential for ‘Alcohol Disorder Zones’ to be established under the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006, without encouraging the police and local authorities to enact these powers because irresponsible retailers choose not to co-operate with them.

Throughout our training in the National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) we demonstrate the benefits of co-operating with the authorities and the penalties for failing to do so. Training of staff should be the first step taken by all employers when they take on new staff in any position and we provide training in subjects that cover every aspect of the Licensed Retail Sector, these include; The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) for front line staff selling or supplying alcohol, The National Certificate for Licensees - Drug Awareness (NCLDA) and Conflict Management and Resolution Training (CMR) for employees working in environments where they face aggression and Violence in the Workplace.

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