The Wild West
Friday, October 17th, 2008
As a consequence of binge drinking some of our towns have been likened to the “Wild West”, according to a Jo Steele report in The Metro today (15 10 08).
In particular the spread of violence in our market towns has become very significant and this is acknowledged by the police. Thus the pressure on resources continually increases.
Simon Reed (vice chairman of the police federation) argues “All it’s done is push closing time further back. At times, policing is being really stretched, often in the smaller towns more than the big cities”.
Arguably, the 2005 Licensing Act was specifically introduced to promote a Cafe culture akin to our European counterparts. However the police are continually dealing with disorder.
The Home office state that the average closing time is 20 minutes and suggest violent crime is stable.
