The impact of a lockout policy on levels of alcohol‐related incidents in and around licensed premises

Abstract

This paper reports on the impact of a lockout policy on levels of alcohol‐related offences in and around licensed premises. The lockout policy prevents patrons from entering or re‐entering late night trading licensed premises for a specific period prior to closure. A modified police activity log was utilised by all first response operational police to record their attendance at incidents in and around licensed premises. Chi‐square analyses of the prevalence of incidents before and after implementation of the lockout policy demonstrated that the number of alcohol‐related offences requiring police attention was significantly proportionally lower following the liquor trading changes. Alcohol‐related offences, particularly those related to disturbances and sexual offences were significantly reduced following the introduction of the lockout policy. However, while offences related to property, stealing, and assault experienced a reduced trend, these did not reach significance. In contrast, traffic offence rates were unchanged. The findings of the study provide supportive evidence that lockout initiatives have potential as a major crime prevention technique to reduce specific types of alcohol‐related offences.