Violence in commercial drinking establishments: Contributing factors and strategies for prevention

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Violence in commercial drinking establishments
Contributing factors and strategies for
prevention

• Kathryn Graham
• Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
• London, Ontario, Canada

Presentation at the European Crime Prevention
Network (EUCPN) Best Practices Conference,
November 2006
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Public drinking in early modern German lands

• Given their ubiquity and social importance,
  public houses inevitably became contested places.
  Publicans, patrons and early modern authorities
  pursued different and often incompatible agendas
  
• commercial interests were paramount for the
  keepers
• cheap provision and cheerful entertainment
  mattered most to the drinkers
• and secular and religious bodies worried above
  all about immoral and subversive behavior.
• Tavern life thus involved the constant
  negotiation and balancing of all these various
  factors and parties.

Kümin, B. (2005) Drinking and public space in
early modern German lands. Contemporary Drug
Problems, 32, 9-27.
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• In terms of negative repercussions, the taverns
  association with violence and drunken disorder
  was the most serious concern.
• Depending on region and jurisdiction, between a
  fifth and well over half of all violent offenses
  had some connection to drinking in public houses.

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of most recent incidents of aggression
occurring in or near a bar/club
(general population telephone survey, Ontario,
1999)
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Young males act as hotheads with dire consequences
Former bouncer Patrick John Brownslow sat in the
prisoners box and swallowed hard as a judge
sentenced him to 30 months in penitentiary...
Across the courtroom the victim, Gary Tordoff,
sat in the wheelchair he is unable to rise from
The jury was told the incident began when
Brownslow, then a 23-year-old nursing studentand
another bouncer tried to stop Tordoff from
leaving the bar with a beer in his hand. In the
struggle, Tordoffs head was banged against a
wall about four times and he was tossed out of
the door where his head apparently hit the
sidewalk.
London Free Press, June 17, 1995
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• Animals expend more energy and expose
  themselves to greater risk of injury and
  predation when they are playing than when they
  are resting.
• Bateson, P. (2005). The role of play in the
  evolution
• of great apes and humans. In Pellegrini, A. D.,
• Smith, P. K. (Eds.), The nature of play.
• Great apes and humans, New York Guilford.

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• To understand the causes of violence in pubs,
  we should stop being so concerned about alcohol
  consumption and drinkers personal
  characteristics (age, sex, ethnicity, etc.) and
  instead probe more deeply into their social
  relationships and the norms of appropriate
  behavior that guide them.
• Graves, T.D., Graves, N.B., Semu, V.N., Sam,
  I.A. (1981) The social context
• of drinking and violence in New Zealand's
  multi-ethnic pub settings (pp. 103-120).
• In T.C. Harford L.S. Gaines (Eds.), Social
  drinking contexts,
• Research Monograph No.7. Rockville,MD NIAAA.

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Key predictors across time, countries and
research methods

• Very permissive anything goes atmosphere
• Highly intoxicated patrons
• Lots of sexual activity, contact and competition

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Other mostly consistent predictors

• Crowding, lots of movement
• High noise level
• Unclean, messy premises
• Smoky, stale air
• Pool playing, dancing
• Illegal activities such as drug dealing,
  prostitution

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Staff factors related to aggression

• Presence of bouncers (i.e., crowd controllers,
  security staff, door staff)
• Staff who are
• drinking
• incompetent
• aggressive/violent

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Bar staff behavior associated with reduced
frequency and severity of aggression

• Better monitoring
• Friendly and respectful rule enforcement
• Maintaining professional boundaries

Graham, K., Bernards, S., Osgood, D. W., Wells,
S. (2006). Bad nights or bad bars? Multilevel
analysis of environmental predictors of
aggression in late-night large-capacity bars and
clubs. Addiction, 101, 1569-1580. Graham, K.,
Bernards, S., Osgood, D.W., Homel, R., Purcell,
J. (2005). Guardians and handlers The role of
bar staff in preventing and managing aggression.
Addiction, 100, 755-766.
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The special importance of closing time as a high
risk time for aggression

• Patrons
• are at their most intoxicated
• encounter frustrations such as
• not being allowed to finish drinks they have
  purchased
• queues at the coat-check, taxi stand and food
  vendors
• continue conflicts that started earlier inside
• are often hyped and reluctant to go home
• hang around outside after closing

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Effects of alcohol on potential and actual
participants in aggression

• Risk taking
• increased impulsiveness
• less consideration of consequences or danger
• underestimating consequences but also more
  willing to suffer consequences
• Thinking and problem-solving
• less able to assess the situation accurately
• sees only own side
• fewer coping and problem solving strategies
• Emotionality and arousal
• more emotional
• totally caught up in the moment
• less aware of personal values
• stimulated or hyped

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You Gotta Problem?

• The respondent (R) was at a bar with about 25-30
  friends and was extremely drunk (it was his
  birthday).
• One of Rs friend had been in a scuffle and was
  telling R about it. Rs friend said the guy he
  had the conflict with was very big. R started
  jokingly pointing at people who were very big,
  saying is that him, is that him. He pointed at
  one particularly large man who saw him pointing.
• The man walked over and said, You gotta
  problem? R said he felt very confident because
  he had so many friends with him. He replied, No
  I dont have a problem. Do you have a problem?
• The big guy pushed R, and R him pushed back. Rs
  friend then tried to intervene. He held the big
  guys arm saying Relax. We dont want any
  problems. The big guy threw him out of the way
  with one arm.
• R was then hit on the head with a beer bottle by
  another man. A group of males then pinned his
  arms and started punching and kicking him. The
  bouncers then grabbed him and threw him out,
  hitting his head on the door as they were
  throwing him out.

Interview incident, London Ontario, late 1990s
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You Gotta Problem?
Reason why incident happened according to the
respondent!

• Basically you know I think it was just bad
  luck. Like I mean what are the chances that this
  guy just turns around and happens to look at me
  just when I point at him.
• He comes over to see what's going on. It happens
  to be my birthday, and it happens that I'm very
  drunk and so instead of being, you know, a
  logical person and saying listen, you know, I was
  just joking with my friend here, it has nothing
  to do with you, don't worry about it, you know, I
  had to get a little bit lippy.
• So yeah, just a fluke basically, bad luck.

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Person B
Person A
Initial aggression
male honor face saving emotional response looking
for fight
over-reaction taking offense grudge looking for
fight
Aggressive response
Third party involvement
Persons C, D, E...
loyalty to friend looking for fight
Graham, K., Wells, S. (2003). Somebodys
Gonna Get Their Head Kicked in Tonight!
Aggression among young males in bars A question
of values? British Journal of Criminology, 43,
546-566.
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Relationship between intoxication of participants
in aggressive incidents in bars and severity of
aggression
Graham, K., Osgood, D. W., Wells, S.,
Stockwell, T. (2006). To what extent is
intoxication associated with aggression in bars?
A multilevel analysis, Journal of Studies on
Alcohol, 67, 382-390.
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Interventions to reduce violence in drinking
establishments

• Education and training
• Policies, laws, regulations
• Enforcement/policing
• Voluntary accords, codes of practice
• Community mobilization

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Focusing on intoxication and underage
drinkingResponsible Beverage Service Training

• Has been shown to result in lower intoxication
  levels of patrons
• However
• most evaluations show weak or inconsistent
  effects
• training varies in quality and intensity
• enforcement of licensing laws is needed to
  maintain effects of RBS programs

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RBS training is not enough to prevent violence
In large capacity bars, it is often not possible
to monitor alcohol consumption. Moreover, a
substantial proportion of incidents are not
related to intoxication but rather to

• macho attitudes
• sexual overtures
• jealousy
• bar activities such as pool playing
• bar staff who lack skills to manage problem
  behavior and prevent
• conflicts from escalating
• aggressive individuals who are attracted to bar
  security jobs
• inconsistency in enforcement of house policies

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Community Mobilization Approaches

• The Surfers Paradise Safety Action Project and
  its replications in other Queensland Cities
  (Homel, Australia)
• STAD Project (Wallin, Sweden)
• Tackling Alcohol-related Street Crime (TASC)
  (Maguire Nettleton, Wales)

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STAD Project (Sweden)

• 10-year community action project in Stockholm
  which included
• Responsible beverage service training
• Training in dealing with problem patrons
• Community mobilization
• Stricter enforcement of existing alcohol laws

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Community involvement

• County council
• Licensing board
• Police
• County administration
• National Institute of Public Health
• Restaurant owners
• Union

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Institutionalization Keeping the positive gains

• high acceptance and participation
• ongoing continuation of activities such as
  training
• key leader support -- high status representation
  at meetings and financial support
• adoption of policies to reinforce program
• enforcement key role of police and licensing
  regulation

Wallin, E., Lindewald, B., Andréasson, S.
(2004). Institutionalization of a community
action program targeting licensed premises in
Stockholm, Sweden. Evaluation Review, 28,
396-419.
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Other key issues

• Media coverage
• Demonstrating effectiveness
• Perceived empowerment
• Meeting targets
• A long-term commitment from the start
• Luck!
• e.g., The head of the licensing board, who
  attended almost every action group meeting, took
  part in many of the smaller working groups, and
  conducted lobbying for politicians and key
  leaders. (p. 415)

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Evaluation of the effects of STAD on violence

• A gradual reduction in violence occurred as the
  intervention was implemented with more and more
  premises.
• Reaching 29 reduction in police-reported violent
  crime.
• This reduction occurred while crime rates
  increased in a neighboring city

Wallin, E., Norström, T., Andréasson, S.
(2004). Alcohol prevention targeting licensed
premises A study of effects on violence. Journal
of Studies on Alcohol, 64, 270-277.
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Other Approaches

• The Geelong Local Industry Accord (Australia)
• The Safer Bars Program (Graham, Canada)
• Problem-oriented policing The Linking Project
  (Wiggers, Australia)

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The Safer Bars Program (Canada)

• Risk assessment workbook
• 3-hour training
• Video
• Trainers Guide
• Participant Workbook
• Legal pamphlet

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Assessing and Reducing Risks of Violence
The risk assessment workbook allows the owner or
manager of a bar or club to rate the
establishment on about 100 environmental factors
associated with increased risk of aggression.
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Safer Bars Training

• intervening early
• using effective tactics and body language
• planning ahead and working as a team
• not losing their temper
• dealing with intoxicated patrons
• knowing their legal responsibilities

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Young Males Act as Hotheads with Dire Consequences
Former bouncer Patrick John Brownslow sat in the
prisoners box and swallowed hard as a judge
sentenced him to 30 months in penitentiary...
Across the courtroom the victim, Gary Tordoff,
sat in the wheelchair he is unable to rise from
The jury was told the incident began when
Brownslow, then a 23-year-old nursing studentand
another bouncer tried to stop Tordoff from
leaving the bar with a beer in his hand. In the
struggle, Tordoffs head was banged against a
wall about four times and he was tossed out of
the door where his head apparently hit the
sidewalk.
London Free Press, June 17, 1995
35
Evaluation of the Safer Bars Program

• A randomized control trial conducted in large
  capacity bars and clubs
• in Toronto in which over 100 observers were hired
  to monitor aggression
• during over 1000 nights of observation found
  that

• bars and clubs participating in the program
  showed a significant reduction in physical
  aggression
• aggression in the control establishments
  increased during the same period.

Graham, K. et al. (2004). The effect of the Safer
Bars programme on physical aggression in bars
Results of a randomized controlled trial, Drug
and Alcohol Review, 23(1), 31-41.
Supported by a grant (RO1 AA11505) from the U.S.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism.
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Problem-oriented policing The Alcohol Linking
Program (Australia)

• For every crime attended by the police where the
  offender had been drinking, data were collected
  on
• the offenders prior alcohol consumption
• level of intoxication
• place last consumed alcohol
• Feedback reports were sent to licensees on the
  number and nature of incidents associated with
  their premises compared with other premises in
  the area
• Premises with at least one incident were visited
  by police who
• conducted a 30-item responsible serving audit
• offered assistance to the licensee for improving
  their practices
• One month later, licensees who had been visited
  were invited to a workshop on reducing risk

Wiggers, J. et al. (2004). Strategies and
outcomes in translating alcohol harm reduction
research into practice the Alcohol Linking
Program. Drug and Alcohol Review, 23, 355-364
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Evaluation of the effect of the Linking Program
on reducing violence

• In a randomized control trial in New South Wales,
  premises receiving the program showed a greater
  reduction in associated crime compared with
  control premises
• There was a high level of support for the program
  from the police, licensees and the community

http//www.archi.net.au/e-library/service/communit
y/community_resources/alcohol_linking_project
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Community and enforcement issues

• Have information/statistics
• Obtain commitment of key leaders/organizations
• Implement structures (policies, procedures) that
  will continue for the long-term
• Combine with effective training and risk
  reduction interventions
• Enforcement is essential

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Non-enforcement strategies

• Change how drinkers are protected and/or harmed
  in bars and clubs, e.g.
• hire staff who are not aggressive
• train staff how to better mange and control
  problem behaviour
• implement policies that dont frustrate or
  aggravate people
• discourage sexual harassment
• reduce the impact of the macho code.
• Change environmental risks, e.g.
• design premises to avoid bottlenecks and other
  features that cause problems
• have a comfortable and fun setting
• use the physical environment to set expectations
  for behaviour.
• Change attitudes toward how one should behave
  when drinking in bars and clubs, e.g.
• Eliminate the macho code
• reducing tolerance for sexual harassment and
  aggression.