Abstract
Community-based safety action projects: the change model is based on prior experience with community interventions, the theory of situational crime prevention, and the theory of responsive regulation.
To reduce violence in and around licensed venues.
These include:
- Understanding the local economy, nighttime economy, industry cimate and regulatory systems;
- Developing local partnerships oriented to evidence;
- Incorporating Safer Bars training and risk assessments universally
- Experimenting with targeted enforcement using Last Drinks data
- Building community coalitions/action groups suitable to local conditions
- Building sustainability mechanisms in from the outset.
A study in 1998 (observations) showed a reduction in aggressive and violent incidents and a decline in physical assaults but conclusions concerning direct causality cannot be drawn.
A new study starts in 2010.
The last study could not report about causalities, but the new study will have more information and results on the effectiveness of this program.
Intervention details
Visitors of bars etc
Staff training, police, community
These include:
- Understanding the local economy, nighttime economy, industry cimate and regulatory systems;
- Developing local partnerships oriented to evidence;
- Incorporating Safer Bars training and risk assessments universally;
- Experimenting with targeted enforcement using Last Drinks data;
- Building community coalitions/action groups suitable to local conditions;
- Building sustainability mechanisms in from the outset.
The project builds on the work of Graham & Homel (2008). The safer bars program has been positively evaluated. For police enforcement, there have been a small number of succesful interventions, but by data triangulation there should be stronger evidence of the problems.For community action, the evidence is from the STAD-project.Theory and practice of situational crime prevention, regulatory theory.
Evaluation details
These were:
- Incorporating Safer Bars training and risk assessments universally;
- Experimenting with targeted enforcement using Last Drinks data;
- Building community coalitions/action groups suitable to local conditions.
In 1998: we observed a reduction in aggressive and violent incidents between 1994-1996 and a decline in physical assaults.
A new study starts in 2010.
McILwain, G., & Homel, R. (2009). Sustaining a reduction of alcohol-related harms in the licensed enverinment: a practical experiment to generate new evidence. Brisbane: Griffith University.
First projects: Hauritz, M et al (1998). Reducing violence in licensed venues through community safety action projects: the Queensland experience. Contemporary Drug Problems, 25 (fall), 511-551.
An abstract for this journal article can be found in the HNT literature section here.
