Drinking culture in the UK has long caused problems for police and local authorities. Incidents of violence and other antisocial acts have a tendency to rise considerably during peak drinking hours.
One local police force has tried to cut down on the number of glassing assaults that take place in the area through an initiative in which door staff wear hi vis clothing, the Bournemouth Echo reports.In collaboration with the publication, the police force launched Call Time on Glass in 2006 and, since this point, the number of serious assaults involving glass have fallen.
As well as ensuring that bouncers wear high visibility jackets, the project has seen drinking establishments switch from glass to polycarbonate to reduce glass crime.
Whereas in one year between 2004 and 2005, there were 12 serious assaults involving glasses, there have only been eight in total since 2006. At present, 38 out of 51 Townwatch premises serve drinks in polycarbonate or safe vessels and the remainder are predominantly restaurants and non-vertical drinking pubs.
Now, those behind the campaign are calling on the rest of the town centre venues to get behind the cause and replace their glasses.Police Sergeant Derek McKerl said: “One glassing is one too many and in another five years we want to achieve zero serious injuries involving glassings in Bournemouth.”
He went on to point to a recent incident in which a doorman was hit in the face with a polycarbonate glass, adding: “While he did suffer a cut to the face, he was back working the same night. Had that been glass he would have lost an eye, there is no doubt about it.”Of course it is not only door staff who wear high visibility jackets and other types of hi vis clothing. People working on construction sites, police officers and cyclists are among those who also often don such garments.