Enjoy yourselves - responsibly

This week Operation Summer Nights is focusing on tackling alcohol related crime and local Nightsafe teams will be out in force to ensure that town centres in Blackpool and the rest of the Fylde coast are safer places to enjoy evening entertainment.

Evidence suggests that people are drinking more alcohol, particularly in the age group 18-30. Frequent and excessive alcohol consumption  is clearly linked to violence, anti-social behaviour, domestic violence, self-harm and an increase in accidents.

Cllr Tony Williams, Cabinet Member with responsibility for community safety at Blackpool Council and Chair of the BSafe Blackpool partnership, said: “We fully support Operation Summer Nights and the campaign’s efforts to reduce the negative impact of drinking to excess.

“August is a time of the year when we all want to enjoy the longer nights and warmer evenings, however overindulgence can lead to anti social behaviour and other associated problems. This is something that must be eradicated.

“The few problem makers who cannot control their drinking or behaviour should not beallowed to spoil it for everyone else and they will be brought to task.”

Sgt Billy Giffin heads up the police contingency of the Nightsafe operation. He said:

'Nightsafe was launched here in the Fylde in 2003 and we have grown from strength to strength with many partners agenciessigning upto tackle the harm, both physical and cultural that drinking to excess causes.

“Our message is simple, drink to excess, cause trouble and you will find yourself faced with a penalty notice or a police cell and a criminal record. We recognise that people do like a drink and our message is drink sensibly, alternate your drinks with a soft drink and go home when you’ve had enough.

“We are clearly seeing reductions in alcohol related crime, but it is still an area that causes so much harm, not only to the individuals who drink too much and their own families, but also to the localcommunities and the social economy.”

On-going initiatives in Blackpool and the Fylde to tackle the problem include:

• ALTN8
• Meet and greet scheme
• Nightsafe licensing visits
• Focus on underage drinking
• Off licence poster campaign
• Talking CCTV
• Metal detecting gloves
• Head cameras videoing town centre disorder
• Pubwatch
• Doorstaff Training
• Proactive enforcement around servicing alcohol to already drunk customers.
• Operation Aslan
• Test Purchasing