Pubs to foot bill for drink-fuelled violence

Home Office is considering ways to legitimise entrapment of suppliers by sending undercover squads of teenagers below 18 years of age to buy alcohol.

It seems pubs and clubs will soon have to help pay for the costs of controlling drunken behaviour in this country.  As part of the government’s alcohol harm reduction strategy for England they will be asked to contribute towards the costs of policing crime and disorder caused by excessive drinking.

Such policing may include the creation of city centre marshals to patrol areas such as taxi ranks, late night bus stops and areas where fights tend to break out – a plan based on a scheme in Manchester’s city centre, where civilian public protection officers have been drafted in to supplement existing police on patrol.

As well as paying for marshals to keep the peace in city centres at closing time, pubs and clubs could also find themselves helping to meet the cost of getting drunks home safely, according to the government report published in mid-March.

Further, to assist in the reduction of underage drinking, the Home Office is considering ways to legitimise entrapment of suppliers by sending undercover squads of teenagers below 18 years of age to buy alcohol.

The government points out that drinkers under 16 are consuming twice as much alcohol as 10 years ago and are more likely to get drunk earlier than their European peers.

In addition, there are reputedly 1.2 million incidents of alcohol-related violence very year.