Crackdown!

by Niall McCann

Crackdown!

There is nothing a government enjoys more than a good crackdown on so called ‘problem’ licensed premises. It gives the impression that the Government are grasping the nettle, being proactive, taking the initiative, tackling the big problems etc etc and is a relatively cheap way of getting good headlines from a press convinced that most city centres are akin to Hogarth’s Gin Lane. The difficulty is that few people actually look beyond the headlines. I’ve heard reports recently of perfectly good premises being ‘encouraged’ to close because the CCTV footage is only being kept for 28 days as opposed to the 31 days stipulated on the premises licence and licensees refusing to call the police if they need assistance for fear that they will fall foul of the latest initiative to cut alcohol related crime based solely on statistics. So what should be done? Surely governing is not about eye catching programmes but about seeing steady gradual improvement over the long term against criteria which are not driven by the quest for short term popularity? Unfortunately for many politicians a good government is simply one that gets re-elected. So there you have it - why not start with a crackdown!