Commisioner highlights £300m regional cost of alcohol-related crime

Police and crime commissioner Tony Hogg has vowed to put the cost of alohol-related crime at the top of his agenda.

With the bill currently running at more than £300m in Devon and Cornwall, Mr Hogg called upon all organisations affected by the 'booze culture' to create a strategy to reduce both the cost and the effect on society. 

On Monday (16 September) over 60 delegates attended Mr Hogg's alcohol think tank, 'Action for Change'', at Plymouth's Mount Batten Centre to hear speakers from the licensed trade, the public and charitable sectors outline the impact any strategy would have in social, health and economic terms.

"I have a great deal of respect for the excellent partnership work that is already going on between organisations to try and come to terms with the effects of alcohol," said Mr Hogg, "but I call on everyone here today to re-energise and refresh our approach to create a new multi-agency strategy to cut the costs of alcohol.

"This cannot just be a matter for the police, they cannot deal with this issue on their own. We have to find a way to marry best practice with financial commitment across public, private and voluntary sectors."

The conference heard that the cost of alcohol-related crime must not be allowed to cancel out the economic contribution of the evening and night time economy and Mr Hogg called on the major supermarkets to join the debate.

"Pre-loading - the act of getting tanked-up on cheap, shop-bought booze before going out - may reduce the cost of a night out but the cost to society is huge," he said.

"Our task is to make sure the benefit of a thriving economy is not offset by its cost. There is no easy answer but we need to initiate cultural change in our cities, towns and villages. We all need to ask ourselves what kind of place do we want to live in.”