Stephen House, chief constable of Strathclyde Police, says that the increased availability of cheap alcohol in supermarkets and off-licences and the effects of the smoking ban have resulted in more people drinking large amounts of alcohol in domestic settings.
He warns that this is creating an increase in “private-space violence”, with fights that previously would have taken place on the street or inside licensed premises now moving into households.
He said: “We would normally see, in years gone by, fights in town centres between people who had been out drinking, possibly together. You see less of that now, less violence in public areas and more violence like that in private spaces.
“This is about fights between brothers, brothers and sisters, fathers and brothers, cousins, and friends, not happening so much in the street but happening in the home.
“What you are seeing is a market-driven change to violence. In off-licences drink is so much cheaper, particularly bulk purchases from supermarkets, than drink in clubs or pubs, so people are drinking in their homes or other people’s homes, which is not a controlled environment.
“Licensed premises are properly controlled. They can refuse to serve people if they have had too much to drink, there is CCTV and there are doormen. In somebody’s house none of that applies.
“We would like to see it reversed and people drinking more in clubs and pubs. That would allow us to control the situation more. We would be able to protect more people.”
Strathclyde Police figures show that 37% of violent incidents took place in a private domestic setting this year, compared with 27% in 2000. This included reports of domestic abuse, and separate research has shown that 57% of domestic abuse incidents involve alcohol.
The proportion of violence taking place in public open spaces has fallen over the past nine years, from 48% of all incidents to 44%, while reports of violent incidents inside licensed premises have remained steady, at about 4.1%.
Mr House was speaking yesterday at a summit held by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and four local authorities in the west of Scotland to consider ways to tackle high rates of alcohol abuse.
He said that the smoking ban would have contributed to the numbers of people drinking excessively at home, but that the government’s plans to introduce a minimum price for alcohol could help to reverse the trend by encouraging people back into pubs and clubs. Research published last week suggested it could result in £1bn of health savings over 10 years and 3200 fewer offences every year.
Changes to licensing legislation have already outlawed drinks promotions such as happy hours and introduced the need for premises that sell alcohol to have licences for both the premises and a designated manager.
Minister for Public Health Shona Robison said: “Minimum pricing will have a big impact on reducing quantities of low-price, high-volume products that people take home. Alcohol permeates so many elements of our society and we have to take whatever measures we can to tackle it. The new alcohol bill, I believe, has the potential to be a turning point, with minimum pricing at its core.”
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