July news
Operation Drink Safe is one year old
It's been a year since a concerted effort to get tough on irresponsible drinkers, and to cut alcohol-fuelled violent crime in Portsmouth's entertainment areas began.
Operation Drink Safe, launched by the Safer Portsmouth Partnership, targeted those who were losing control and drinking excessively. It was started after police analysis showed 21 per cent of all public order, common assault and incidents of actual bodily harm in Portsmouth take place in the centre of the city, with 10 per cent taking place in just three streets - Guildhall Walk, Guildhall Square and Commercial Road.
Operation Drink Safe's aim was to carry out tough, intensive, ongoing police operations as well as educate people about the dangers of excessive drinking.
During the year that Drink Safe has been in place assaults in Guildhall Walk have dropped by 30 per cent and in Guildhall Square assaults reduced by 89 per cent.
Due to this success, the aim is now to extend Operation Drink Safe to other areas of the city including Albert Road, Gunwharf Quays, Palmerston Road, Osbourne Road, Fratton Road and London Road.
Chief Inspector James Fulton who leads for the Police on Licensing in Portsmouth said: "Operation Drink Safe has been a huge success harnessing multi-agency and partner resources to address this significant problem. The results have been impressive with significant reductions in violence and assaults in the Guildhall entertainment area
"We look forward to expanding the initiative across the city and working with licensees and partner authorities to help cut violence and as demonstrated in Guildhall area making the city a safer place to spend an evening."
He added: "The partnership agencies recognise that there is further work to do and we are determined to build upon the good practice of the Drink Safe campaign to make Portsmouth a safer place to socialise within."
During the year, as part of Operation Drink Safe, the area has seen mounted police on horses patrolling to deal with drink related crime and crashed cars on display in the Guildhall to educate revellers to the dangers of drink driving; as well as benefited from the Nightrunner bus service, taxi marshals and Best Bar None, a pub, club and restaurant improvement scheme that encourages licensees to set an 'excellence standard' such as by training their staff to deal with drunkenness to help to reduce crime and disorder.
Other successes include 'exclusion orders' - the ability to ban convicted violent offenders from licensed premises for up to two years, which have been used as part of the operation. There are currently 75 Portsmouth Business Crime Reduction Partnership bans in place, with 20 pending. 38 exclusion orders have been applied for at court.
A celebration to mark the success of Operation Drink Safe and the plans to extend it city-wide is being held in Portsmouth Guildhall this Friday (July 25), and will include street entertainers, street pastors as well as information from all the agencies involved from the Safer Portsmouth Partnership. PC Jonathan Seal who is organising the event said: "All agencies involved in Drink Safe will be in Guildhall Square to show what work has been going on. The aim of Friday is to get a serious message across, in a fun way. We want people to enjoy their nights out in Portsmouth with out the fear of being assaulted."
Rachael Dalby, Portsmouth City Council's Head of Community Safety, said: "We have seen a real improvement in the Guildhall area since working in partnership to keep the community safe from alcohol-related violence.
"Crime levels have reduced in the area since the introduction of Operation Drink Safe a year ago; we're sure residents of Portsmouth will be reassured to know that due to this success the area covered by the scheme is going to be expanded to cover the whole of the city, to reduce crime and the fear of crime."
Date : 24 July 2008