This award, sponsored by Laurel Pub Company, aims at recogni
Aylesbury Buckinghamshire The pioneering Aylesbury Pubwatch has already picked up four awards from the local community during its seven-year existence and was just beaten by the Crawley Pubwatch in last year's Morning Advertiser awards.
The latest award, given by the town's mayor, went to Inspector Steve Baker.
He played a key role is setting up the pubwatch and acts as co-ordinator, but says the scheme is for the licensees: "There are advantages for both parties in the way the pubwatch is structured, but it is very much a scheme that is driven by licensees."
One of the main forces behind the pubwatch has been its chairman Alex Jackson, who formerly ran the Broad Leys in Aylesbury, and is a previous recipient of the town mayor's award.
Other members of the pubwatch who have also been lauded for their service to the community are Trevor Middleton and Nigel Manley, who helped to save a man's life.
The man had been ejected from the Hobgoblin pub and, in his anger, thrust his arm through a window.
The incident left him bleeding profusely from an arterial wound.
Nigel turned to his pubwatch radio for help and Trevor, of the Lounge pub, picked up the message and ran to the scene with a first-aid kit in an effort to stem the bleeding.
Meanwhile, police had been alerted through the message and theincident was also being monitored via closed-circuit television.
The man was then rushed to hospital and later made a full recovery.
Around 20 of the 50 pubwatch members are linked via radio and the equipment has now been upgraded thanks to £10,000 worth of Home Office funding.
This has allowed Aylesbury to help another pubwatch, in nearby Buckingham, which has been given its old radio equipment and base station.
The pubwatch can justly claim to have broken new ground by becoming the first to pioneer a scheme that allows search dogs to sniff out drug-using customers.
This has also attracted Home Office funding of £15,000.
Police say violent incidents generally in pubs have dropped by a third thanks to pubwatch.
Around 70 people are currently barred from pubs run by pubwatch members.
Alex says: "The committee meets regularly to consider the cases of anyone who has assaulted a customer, a licensee, member of staff or caused criminal damage or used drugs in a pub.
"An open-ended ban is then issued and the only way the person can be removed from the list is following an interview with the committee.
"Even then, that person remains on probation for a 12-month period.
After then, and only if they show they can behave, can their name be removed from the list.
We've had a lot of success stories and the low re-offending rate is a sign of our tough and fair stance."
Ripley Derbyshire Ripley's reputation of being something akin to a "wild west town" has long been put to rest.
Alcohol-related incidents are at an all-time low and police say the Derbyshire town's pubwatch scheme is one of the reasons why.
Chairman Peter Clay, who runs Victors pub, says things had hit rock bottom four years ago: "It was the police that motivated us initially to get ourselves organised because things had got so bad, there was a risk that they would be looking to close pubs down.
Since then, the scheme has gone from strength to strength."
The pubwatch comprises 33 members who run pubs or clubs in the town.
Meetings are held every month and members are expected to attend at least one in every three, otherwise they are likely to get a visit from a police community officer or dedicated licensing officer.
Troublemakers are banned from all outlets for up to 12 months.
A "banned" list of 30 people four years ago has now been reduced to just nine.
The group also holds quarterly meetings with the chairmen of 15 other pubwatch groups in East Derbyshire so that bans can be extended to other areas.
Peter explains: "One of the main strengths of the scheme is that when someone is banned, everyone sticks together and ensures the ban works.
If a member doesn't toe the line, they will get a personal visit from the police.
"We don't go for the attitude that, if someone spends a lot of money in a pub, he shouldn't be banned or that he never causes trouble in a particular pub.
He is banned from everywhere and that's it.
We don't believe in indefinite bans either because we take the view that someone would have nothing to lose by causing more trouble if he was banned for life.
"The strength of the scheme is highlighted by the fact that all those who have come off the list have not caused problems since," reports Peter.
There's much more to the Ripley scheme, though, than banning undesirables.
The group provides members for the town's police consultative committee, chamber of commerce, town centre forum, shop watch and door watch.
Members go to local high schools and talk about the consequences of under-age drinking and the effects of alcohol on health.
During the past year, presentations were made to more than 300 young people and more are planned.
Peter is especially proud of the group's latest venture that is helping to provide subsidised training for members through a link-up with South Derbyshire Chamber of Trade.
Courses on customer care, time management, and building a better business have already been attended.
Peter adds: "We are always looking to improve ourselves as a pubwatch group and this is just one of our initiatives.
It is not all doom and gloom and bans."
Tiverton Devon The market town of Tiverton has witnessed a remarkable transformation in the number of cases of alcohol-related crime or disorder.
Incidents dropped by 70% when the police, in partnership with licensees, retailers and Mid Devon District Council, staged Operation Krake to reinforce the message that trouble-makers and under-age drinkers are not welcome in the town.
The high success rate can be attributed to the pioneering work undertaken by the Tiverton Pubwatch.
Police licensing office Mike Sais, who helped set up the scheme 18 months ago, says it is not just all the town's pubs that are included.
The scheme's 70-strong membership comprises social clubs, restaurants, hotels, all the major supermarkets, corner shops, and even the local taxi companies.
In addition, the Tiverton scheme is linked with neighbouringwatches in Crediton and Cullompton to provide a powerful deterrent.
Mike explains: "It means that anyone banned cannot drink in any pub or buy alcohol from shops in Tiverton and all three pubwatches have adopted a banned from one, banned for all' policy.
Therefore, anyone banned cannot get a drink in mid-Devon, which covers approximately 225 square miles, nor can they get a taxi to take them outside the area to get a drink.
It works really well."
To help the scheme get off the ground, the council applied successfully for a grant that went towards buying 40 pagers.
If a licensee reports an incident or identifies a potential problem, other premises receive a message within 30 seconds.
The message is also sent to the police, who can then decide if the incident warrants sending officers to the scene.
Devon & Cornwall constabulary's commitment to the scheme can be judged by its involvement in Operation Krake; fifty-five officers made more than 340 visits to licensed premises in the mid-Devon area.
Mike says the aim was for police and licensees to get to know eachother on first-name terms, learn about any problems or concerns, and send out a strong message that alcohol-related crime and disorder would not be tolerated.
To help stamp out under-age drinking, the watch runs the Citizens' Card proof-of-age scheme and handed out 2,000 application forms to youngsters.
In March, the watch will adopt a door supervisor scheme.
Only people who have gone through a council-accredited training programme will be allowed to act as door supervisors.
Another initiative is to create no-drinking zones in certain public places in Tiverton.
Mike says the hot spots have been identified and he hopes they will be operative by April.
Pictured, from left, are Brian Lee (treasurer of the Tiverton watch); police licensing officer Mike Sais; Barry Clarke (vice-chairman); and Trevor Hulston (chairm
