Policing pubs: what happens to crime?

Area of Science:

• Criminology
• Law Enforcement Studies
• Public Policy

Background:

• Licensed premises are often associated with increased crime rates.
• Effective policing strategies are crucial for maintaining public order and safety.
• Understanding the impact of enforcement on crime is vital for policy development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effect of intensified police enforcement of the NSW Liquor and Registered Clubs Acts.
• To determine the impact on overall criminal offenses and specifically on assault incidents.
• To analyze crime trends before, during, and after the enforcement intervention.

Main Methods:

• A study involving ten police patrols, with five assigned to an experimental condition and five to a control.
• Experimental patrols conducted frequent, random visits to licensed premises over two months.
• Offense data for experimental and control patrols were compared across three two-month periods: pre-intervention, intervention, and post-intervention.

Main Results:

• A significant increase in the number of criminal offenses was observed in the experimental patrols during the intervention phase.
• The study noted a rise in overall offenses, with specific attention to assault numbers.
• Control patrols, maintaining normal duties, showed no comparable increase in offenses.

Conclusions:

• Intensified police enforcement of liquor laws may inadvertently lead to a rise in recorded offenses.
• Further investigation is needed to understand the reasons behind the increased offense numbers.
• The findings suggest a need to critically assess the outcomes of heightened enforcement strategies in licensed venues.