Reducing Alcohol-Related Violence and Disorder: An Evaluation of the "TASC" Project

• NCJ Number: 203781
• Author(s): Mike Maguire; Hilary Nettleton
• Date Published: March 2003
• Length: 92 pages
• Corporate Author: Great Britain Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate
• Sale Source: Great Britain Home Office
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: Home Office Research Study 265

Annotation

This report presents an evaluation of the Tackling Alcohol-Related Street Crime (TASC) project within the Home Office Crime Reduction Program of the United Kingdom.

Abstract

The Tackling Alcohol-Related Street Crime (TASC) project was launched in the United Kingdom in July 2000. TASC’s principal objective was to reduce the level of alcohol-related violence and disorder in Cardiff city center and the Cardiff Bay area and based on an inter-agency partnership and adopting a problem solving approach. This report presents findings from an evaluation of the TASC project over a period of 18 months and based on data collected up to December 2001. The evaluation draws on an unusual and specially constructed database of relevant incidents, providing useful empirical evidence to inform discussions of all related issues. The report begins with an overview of the projects goals and objectives and the context within which TASC was designed and implemented. This is followed by five additional chapters. Chapter 2 describes the various elements of the project in more detail and presents a process evaluation of its implementation. Chapter 3 draws on the TASC database to offer a statistical account of patterns of violence and disorder in central Cardiff, as well as comparing the pictures by various types of police data and by data from the Accident and Emergency Unit of the local hospital. Chapter 4 reviews evidence as to whether, and to what extent, the TASC project had an impact on the incidence of violence and disorder, either individually or as a whole area. Chapter 5 outlines the costs of the project and offers some conclusions about its cost-effectiveness. The final chapter provides a summary and conclusion of the evaluation, as well as recommendations. Overall, the TASC project appears to have been most successful in terms of its targeted work with individual premises. Its most beneficial partnership arrangements were with the Licensees Forum, where a cooperative dialogue was set up with local pub and club managers with joint attempts made to improve security arrangements in individual premises where the TASC database indicated that the numbers of violent or disorderly incidents were high or rising. Tables, appendices A-C, and references