For anyone who spends their weekends on the dance floors of bars and nightclubs around the world, you will be fully aware that violence at times can rear its ugly head.
More often than not, the culprits are intoxicated males however more and more female instigated violence is becoming an issue.
Violence in bars and nightclubs is unfortunately a bi-product of many countries love of nightlife and partying and at times require policy makers to step in and attempt to rectify the issues.
Below are some attempts that governments and policy makers have taken to rectify this issue, some of which have been successful and others that have failed.
2am Lockout - Melbourne, Australia Melbourne in 2008 for a period of 3 months trialled a lockout from 2am, meaning patrons were unable to enter a premise after 2am.
If the patrons were already in the bar or nightclub during that period, then they were able to stay.
Not sure who's brainchild this was, but it shouldn't take a genius to work out that by locking drunk patrons out of bars and nightclubs early is simply going to exacerbate the problem by creating a load of drunk angry people with nothing to do.
The results of this trial showed that in actual fact, incidences of violence increased during this period as violence increased and simply moved from the bars and nightclubs to the street.
Tempered Plastic Glasses - Australia After a spate of glassing attacks in 2008 - 09, Australia introduced a law requiring high risk venues to use tempered plastic glasses during high risk times (generally after 10pm).
Whilst this does not decrease instances of violence, it virtually eliminated instances of glassing which are obviously extremely serious.
This policy has been a huge success.
Mandatory Surveillance Cameras - Washington DC, USA After a number of horrific murders outside nightclubs in the area, legislators required that bars and nightclubs install surveillance cameras outside the premises in order to deter and apprehend officials.
24 Hour Shut Down - Melbourne, Australia In the event of violence, legislators in 2007 gave police the power to shut down a bar or nightclub for 24 hours in the event the venue experienced excessive violence.
Whilst these powers are not used all that often in practice, undoubtedly it provides law enforcement officials with another string to their bow when attempting to curb violence.
Promoter Licensing - San Francisco, USA This required bar and nightclub event promoters to obtain a licence if they intended to hold 2 or more events in a calendar year.
The logic behind this was for police to be able to make a correlation between promoters and violence at venues, and ensure promoters had a security plan in place to address violence.
More often than not, the culprits are intoxicated males however more and more female instigated violence is becoming an issue.
Violence in bars and nightclubs is unfortunately a bi-product of many countries love of nightlife and partying and at times require policy makers to step in and attempt to rectify the issues.
Below are some attempts that governments and policy makers have taken to rectify this issue, some of which have been successful and others that have failed.
2am Lockout - Melbourne, Australia Melbourne in 2008 for a period of 3 months trialled a lockout from 2am, meaning patrons were unable to enter a premise after 2am.
If the patrons were already in the bar or nightclub during that period, then they were able to stay.
Not sure who's brainchild this was, but it shouldn't take a genius to work out that by locking drunk patrons out of bars and nightclubs early is simply going to exacerbate the problem by creating a load of drunk angry people with nothing to do.
The results of this trial showed that in actual fact, incidences of violence increased during this period as violence increased and simply moved from the bars and nightclubs to the street.
Tempered Plastic Glasses - Australia After a spate of glassing attacks in 2008 - 09, Australia introduced a law requiring high risk venues to use tempered plastic glasses during high risk times (generally after 10pm).
Whilst this does not decrease instances of violence, it virtually eliminated instances of glassing which are obviously extremely serious.
This policy has been a huge success.
Mandatory Surveillance Cameras - Washington DC, USA After a number of horrific murders outside nightclubs in the area, legislators required that bars and nightclubs install surveillance cameras outside the premises in order to deter and apprehend officials.
24 Hour Shut Down - Melbourne, Australia In the event of violence, legislators in 2007 gave police the power to shut down a bar or nightclub for 24 hours in the event the venue experienced excessive violence.
Whilst these powers are not used all that often in practice, undoubtedly it provides law enforcement officials with another string to their bow when attempting to curb violence.
Promoter Licensing - San Francisco, USA This required bar and nightclub event promoters to obtain a licence if they intended to hold 2 or more events in a calendar year.
The logic behind this was for police to be able to make a correlation between promoters and violence at venues, and ensure promoters had a security plan in place to address violence.
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