Pubwatch chiefs plead for help to cut disorder

Police and the Government must do more to help licensees stamp out disorder at pubs by supporting local pubwatch schemes.

That is the message from the founding members of National Pubwatch, the organisation that assists pubwatch groups across the country.

In an interview with the Morning Advertiser, they said that while individual MPs and police officers work hard to

support the efforts of licensees to cut disorder, there should

be more consistent help across the board.

National Pubwatch's honorary secretary Malcolm Eidmans said police support was "variable at all levels".

While most senior police officers support pubwatch, "that supportive stance, when translated to the shop floor, either fails or is muted." "Some individuals are obstructive or unhelpful," Eidmans added.

National Pubwatch's chairman Raoul de Vaux said: "I don't think that police officers at senior level trust licensees. It goes back to the days of the LVA meeting when the policeman was plied with drinks and every-body was very sociable.

"There's always this attitude that one day he (the licensee) may come to me and want something," de Vaux said.

Eidmans added that when he asked the Association of Chief Police Officers to give general support to pubwatch groups, "the question that was thrown at us was, 'what's in this for you'?"

Eidmans praised the MPs that support pubwatch by raising specific concerns with the Government.

But he said the problem was often with civil servants who "repeatedly don't deliver".

For example, he called for the Home Office to resolve confusion over whether licensees can exchange photos of people with pubwatch bans without breaking the Data Protection Act.

Eidmans also criticised the Government for refusing to give any funding to National Pub-watch, a voluntary body that relies on industry donations.

He questioned how the Home Office can spend £2.5m on the Christmas campaign to reduce drunken disorder but cannot give anything to support National Pubwatch - especially as pubwatch groups have cut crime at pubs by between 20% and 80%.

"The industry has demonstrated its commitment to fund us and I believe it's the turn of Government," Eidmans said.

l See next week's MA for the full interview with National Pubwatch