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 officers. 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 officers claimed to have enforced a breach by a vendor or licensee, whereas 62% of rural officers compared with 52% of urban officers had enforced a breach by an individual in the past 12 months. The enforcement behaviour of both rural and urban officers was significantly influenced by their self-reported knowledge of the liquor laws. In both locations the officers 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.