Reducing violence in licensed venues through community safety action projects: the Queensland experience

Abstract

Community-based safety action projects, replications of the model developed in Surfers Paradise designed to reduce violence and disorder in licensed environments in city entertainment areas, were implemented in three diverse North Queensland cities (Cairns, Townsville and Mackay). The change model is based on prior experience with community interventions, the theory of situational crime prevention, and the theory of responsive regulation. The interventions took place in each city during 1995 and early 1996. The results are based on unobtrusive direct observations by patron-observers of aggression, drinking, and management practices in licensed venues in September 1994 and October 1996. There was a decline of 56% in all aggressive and violent incidents, and a decline of at least 75% in physical assaults, but conclusions concerning direct causality cannot be drawn. These declines, which did not differ significantly between cities, coincided with marked improvements in host responsibility practices and a decline in male drunkenness.