Testing the impact of local alcohol licencing policies on reported crime rates in England

Abstract

BackgroundExcessive alcohol use contributes to public nuisance, antisocial behaviour, and domestic, interpersonal and sexual violence. We test whether licencing policies aimed at restricting its spatial and/or temporal availability, including cumulative impact zones, are associated with reductions in alcohol-related crime.MethodsReported crimes at English lower tier local authority (LTLA) level were used to calculate the rates of reported crimes including alcohol-attributable rates of sexual offences and violence against a person, and public order offences. Financial fraud was included as a control crime not directly associated with alcohol abuse. Each area was classified as to its cumulative licensing policy intensity for 2009–2015 and categorised as ‘passive’, low, medium or high. Crime rates adjusted for area deprivation, outlet density, alcohol-related hospital admissions and population size at baseline were analysed using hierarchical (log-rate) growth modelling.Results284 of 326 LTLAs could be linked and had complete data. From 2009 to 2013 alcohol-related violent and sexual crimes and public order offences rates declined faster in areas with more ‘intense’ policies (about 1.2, 0.10 and 1.7 per 1000 people compared with 0.6, 0.01 and 1.0 per 1000 people in ‘passive’ areas, respectively). Post-2013, the recorded rates increased again. No trends were observed for financial fraud.ConclusionsLocal areas in England with more intense alcohol licensing policies had a stronger decline in rates of violent crimes, sexual crimes and public order offences in the period up to 2013 of the order of 4–6% greater compared with areas where these policies were not in place, but not thereafter.

Association between smoking and alcohol‐related behaviours: a time–series analysis of population trends in England

“…However, the price of cigarettes has increased linearly over time, so its impact would have been removed by differencing the time–series (that is, using the difference between successive values of the outcome variables rather than the values themselves) 34. Several alcohol policies came into effect during the study period, including the removal of financial incentives aimed at encouraging general practitioners to screen their patients for heavy drinking, a ban on the sale of alcohol below the total cost of duty and value‐added tax (VAT) combined in May 2014, and strengthening of local alcohol licensing policies 55, 56, 57, 58. Tobacco policies include the Children and Families Act which, in 2015, made it an offence for an adult to buy tobacco for anyone aged under 18 years (including proxy purchasing) and the revised Tobacco Products Directive in 2016 which mandated the introduction of plain packaging, a ban on packs containing fewer than 20 cigarettes and stricter e‐cigarette regulation 59, 60.…”

Democracy and power in alcohol premises licensing: A qualitative interview study of the Scottish public health objective

“…This statutory requirement to assess overprovision is stronger than a non-statutory right to create 'cumulative impact zones' in England and Wales. A recent study of that provision found that the presence of effective cumulative impact zones was associated with a small (8 per 100,000 of the population) reduction in alcohol-related hospital admissions (20) and a reduction in alcohol-related crime (21).…”

‘A true partner around the table?’ Perceptions of how to strengthen public health’s contributions to the alcohol licensing process

“…Through alcohol licensing, local authorities (LAs) in England can shape alcohol environments in their local area. International evidence demonstrates that regulating the availability and accessibility of alcohol -for example through licensing -can reduce both alcohol consumption [1] and associated health and social harms [2][3][4][5][6]. The recognition in 2011 of a statutory licensing role for health authorities [7] and the 2013 reorganisation of public health into local government [8] in England, provided opportunities for public health to engage directly with the alcohol licensing process and potentially shape local alcohol environments [9,10].…”

“…There are also opportunities for public health to engage with other LA stakeholders to shape local alcohol policy, such as a LA's Statement of Licensing Policy (SLP), or cumulative impact policies designed to restrict new licences or variations in areas of high outlet density [11][12][13][14][15]. Evidence indicates that restricting hours of sale, and policies to reduce the density of outlets are two key alcohol regulation levers at the local level, associated with reductions in alcohol-related hospitalisations [3,4], road traffic accidents and injury [2], violent and sexual crimes [3], and antisocial behaviour [1,2].…”