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Europe is tackling public drunkenness and over-serving by better law enforcement

12 September 2012

Europe is tackling public drunkenness and over-serving by better law enforcement Second European network meeting of alcohol enforcement experts also attended by US-experts.

Successful national alcohol policies need effective legal regulations. Research has shown this all over the world. And it is well known that regulations need to be enforced. We know that regulation on alcohol is only as good as the way it is enforced. A good example of this is the age limits for selling alcohol in Europe. Where good practice on education and regulations are well coordinated in Europe, good practice on alcohol law enforcement is not. For this reason the Dutch Institute for Alcohol Policy initiated the European Network for Alcohol Law Enforcement in 2011. This year the network is organizing its second conference on the 15th and 16th November in Stockholm (Sweden). Stockholm is a city well known for its comprehensive alcohol law enforcement strategy.

More countries are joining the Alcohol Law Enforcement Network
Since the first Network Conference in Rotterdam (2011) there is a growing interest in the international exchange of alcohol law enforcement knowledge. Experts from at least 15 counties will be present in Stockholm and almost all the countries will present one or more examples of good practice. The differences in experiences on this issue in Europe are remarkable. For example: where Mediterranean countries have to deal with Europe’s youth at its beaches, the Nordic countries are facing problems on ferries. But regarding the political support for enforcement and the capacity for alcohol law enforcement no country is the same. What the conference in Rotterdam in 2011 has shown is that although the differences are certainly there, the concrete local interventions are practically and financially applicable in many countries and in many settings.

Europe versus United States
One of the main elements of the conference in Stockholm this November is a meeting with US law enforcement experts from The National Liquor Law Enforcement Association (NLLEA). James Wilson (President of the NNLEA) and Rebecca Ramirez (Executive Director of the NLLEA) are bringing US experiences to Stockholm. US enforcement strategies, who are more severe and more developed compared to Europe, are often interesting eye openers for European law enforcement experts. In the field of reducing public drunkenness and enforcing regulations regarding over-serving, the US has more advanced techniques and more concrete results than most European countries.

Joining the network
The conference in Stockholm is open for all European experts on alcohol policy and alcohol law enforcement. Joining the conference means also that you will be informed about the developing European Network on Alcohol Law Enforcement. The conference takes place on November 15 and 16 and is organised in collaboration with the Swedish National Institute of Public Health (SNIPH) Central theme of this conference is: Enforcement on over-serving and public drunkenness.

Prominent presenters
The main speakers of the conference are: Prof. Mark Bellis from Liverpool, Prof. Andréasson and Prof. Norström from Stockholm. The Stockholm police will also give all participants a look behind the scenes of their evidence based law enforcement strategy during a night programme. If you are interested in new interventions and law enforcement strategies on alcohol and violence please mark 15 and 16 November in your diary! Attached you will find the complete programme. Online registration and booking of selected hotels for the conference are possible by visiting: www.fhi.se.

Information:
-Joost Mulder (MSc), head department Local Alcohol Policy of the
Dutch Institute for Alcohol Policy, Utrecht, the Netherlands;
jmulder@stap.nl; www.stap.nl ; 00 31 (0) 30 6565041
-Linda Brännström, Project Manager, Swedish National Institute of Public Health, Östersund,
Sweden; linda.brannstrom@fhi.se, www.fhi.se; 00 46 (0) 63199665

program-european-enforcement-network-stockholm.pdfprogram-european-enforcement-network-stockholm.pdf (2,32 MB)

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Dutch Institute for Alcohol Policy STAP
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