Liquor Law Enforcement: policy and practice in Australia

Abstract

In Australia, even though there are liquor laws that make it amongst other things, illegal to sell alcohol to persons under 18 years of age and to intoxicated persons, the research shows that there is not a high level of compliance with these laws. This study investigated police reports of enforcement of liquor laws in rural and urban Australia by surveying 270 rural and 336 urban operational police of®cers. The results showed that police directed most enforcement at individual drinkers in breach of the law rather than the venue that supplied the alcohol. Only 18% of rural and 14% of urban of®cers claimed to have enforced a breach by a vendor or licensee, whereas 62% of rural of®cers compared with 52% of urban of®cers had enforced a breach by an individual in the past 12 months. The enforcement behaviour of both rural and urban of®cers was signi®cantly in¯uenced by their self-reported knowledge of the liquor laws. In both locations the of®cers who were the most likely to enforce vendor or licensee breaches were those who claimed they had a very good knowledge of the liquor laws. Our results were consistent with previous research and indicated the need for policy development and training and the enlistment of community support if there is to be a breakthrough in the area of liquor law enforcement at the point of sale.

Differences in licensee, police and public opinions regarding interventions to reduce alcohol‐related harm associated with licensed premises

“…With regard to enforcement, a study of enforcement behaviour of police in Australia found that police direct most of their enforcement efforts to individual drinkers, rather than licensing venues or venue staff 25 . Barriers against more effective enforcement action by police include lack of skill, low priority given to alcohol policing, the limited time available and the inadequate penalties given by the courts 26,27 …”

Implementing Impaired Driving Countermeasures: Putting Research into Action--A Symposium

“…No policy can be effective unless it is adequately implemented, it is enforced, and there is awareness on the part of the intended targets of both the policy and the enforcement efforts (e.g., Grube and Nygaard 2001;Hingson et al 1988aHingson et al , 1988bVoas et al 1998). Awareness and knowledge of policies on the part of those charged with enforcement are also important for effective implementation (Findlay et al 2002). Another potentially important element in effective policy is public support.…”

Enforcement of liquor licence provisions: The introduction of civilian licence inspectors in Victoria

“…For example, community coalitions or accords involving representatives from police, licensing authorities, health groups, schools, councils, local residents and also in some instances licensees themselves have been described (Findlay et al, 2002;Smith et al, 2001;Stockwell, 2001). In many places, licence enforcement is undertaken in cooperation with civilian inspectors, who have this as their sole or main task.…”

“…Alcohol is associated with a substantial proportion of police workload (Jeffs & Saunders, 1983;Smith, Wiggers, Considine, Daly, & Collins, 2001). Nonetheless, police frequently report feeling inadequately informed or resourced to regulate licensed premises (Doherty & Roche, 2003;Findlay, Sheehan, Davey, Brodie, & Rynne, 2002;Smith et al, 2001).…”

“…Police are also more inclined to enforce provisions regarding the behaviour of drinkers themselves, rather than that of licensees or their staff (Briscoe & Donnelly, 2003;Craze, 1994;Findlay et al, 2002).…”