Undercover cops to spy on drinkers
BAR staff caught serving drunken party-goers face losing their licences as part of a summer police crackdown.
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BEING WATCHED: Undercover officers will be on the lookout for trouble and underage drinkers.
Officers will be going undercover in Newcastle pubs and clubs to ensure under-18s are not sold booze.
Plain clothes officers will mingle with revellers as part of Operation Nerve – a strategy also aimed at curbing alcohol-fuelled violence.
Landlords will be aware that police are operating in their premises.
But they will not know the identity of individual officers, who will also be able to call for back-up if they spot other crimes such as drug dealing or violence.
Publicans found breaking the rules face a court hearing and the potential loss of their licence.
The operation, supported by Newcastle Borough Council, started on Wednesday and will run until the end of September.
A Staffordshire Police spokesman said: "The officers will predominately be looking out for people being served who have already had too much to drink, as well as under-age drinking.
"Pubs and clubs know they are not allowed to serve people if they are drunk."
Police officers will also able to issue £80 on-the-spot fines to bar staff who are seen serving drunk customers.
But the initiative has received a lukewarm reception from licensees in the town.
Dan Maddox, below, chairman of Newcastle's Pubwatch scheme, said he felt that undercover officers would have difficulty in judging if customers were too drunk.
He said: "As we all know, people are affected by alcohol in different ways and bar staff are obligated by law to responsibly make an on-the-spot judgment about whether a person has had too much to drink or not.
"While we as licensees appreciate what the police are aiming to achieve, we do not feel comfortable they can apply these fines fairly and consistently without using set guidelines, in order to measure how drunk a person is.
"If any appeals are made against these fines, I can see them being quite interesting."
Operation Nerve will also involve uniformed patrols in the town centre.
The operation will also see the introduction of Staffordshire Police's new "magic torches", which can detect evidence of cocaine and amphetamine use.
Newcastle Neighbourhood Policing Unit commander Inspector Neil Hulme said: "If you are drunk, you are an easier target and more likely to become a victim of crime. Any violence caused by drunkenness will not be tolerated."
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Story filed in: Staffordshire Police | Newcastle | Operation Nemesis
6 Comments
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by Rustinho, Silverdale
Friday, July 10 2009, 6:48PM
“It could be interesting if someone challenges one of these £80 on the spot fines in court.
What exactly constitutes "drunk"? One bottle of beer? Two bottles? Three? The drink drive limit?
Sounds very poorly thought out to me. What is wrong with dealing with this sort of thing with the measures (ahem) already in place such as removal of licence for troublesome premises, etc, and more rigorous enforcement of the current rules?”
by Warren, Meir
Friday, July 03 2009, 5:50PM
“Peter, underage drinking in pubs is not the main problem, the contant selling of drink to people who are already drunk is. It sould be stamped out, its simpley not on, the drunken fools spoil meny others night out who just want one or two drinks and to relax with freands.”
by peter, hanley
Friday, July 03 2009, 10:53AM
“well instead of lookin for underage or drunk youngster, charge the licencee, no licencee no underage drinkin, no drunk youngsters. then the licencee will learn to train his or her staff better!”
by Warren, Meir
Friday, July 03 2009, 9:44AM
“Thinking about Peter, if you did'nt inform the publicans, it may well be seen as what the CPS, crimanel protection sirvice...lol, and other leftie do gooders call entrapment, in other words, catching someone doing something they should not do without telling them you are watching them. The laftie fools running the justace system in this country don't like that.”
by peter, hanley
Friday, July 03 2009, 9:05AM
“what is the point of telling the licencee that there are police in your pub, all they are going to do is tell the bar staff ask for id and don't serve them if they had to much.Next day back to normal”