Alcohol Screening & BriefInterventions in a Policing Context.A Feasibility Study
Nicola Brown
Dorothy Newbury-Birch
Eileen Kaner
Background
23% of the adult population, or 7.1 million people, inEngland drink alcohol in a hazardous or harmful way
60-65% prevalence in CJS settings
Total cost of alcohol-related crime in England & Wales is£7.3 billion
Alcohol and Crime
40% of Binge Drinkers admittedcommitting a crime in past 12 months(Budd 2003)
Binge drinkers 5 times more likely to beinvolved in a fight in previous 12 months(Richardson and Budd 2003)
Victim, offender or both had been drinkingin previous 4 hours in 90% of assaults(Finney 2004)
Alcohol is consumed before 73% ofdomestic violence cases (Gilchrist 2003)
Up to 25% of current Police work isassociated with alcohol related incidents(Palk 2007)
Aim
To explore the feasibility of providing alcohol SBI in thePolice setting
To survey the number of detainees that can be screened foralcohol use within a given time frame in a Police station
To determine the number & proportion of hazardous/harmful drinkers that are willing to engage in BA
To establish the training needs of
Detention Officers for conducting
alcohol SBI
Design
£10K funding
£5K South Tyneside DAAT
£5K South Tyneside PCT
3 months data collection
May to July 2009
Process
South Shields Police Station
Carried out by 10 detention officers
During finger printing just prior to release
Inclusion criteria
Arrested for a public order offence or any assaultoffence (excluding attempted murder or murder)
Aged 18 or over
Alert and orientated
Able to speak, read and write English sufficiently wellto comprehend the intervention
Data Collection
Participants characteristics
Age, gender, occupation, ethnicity
Arrest Details
Reason for arrest, time, day
Audit Score - 10 questions
BA delivery & explanation if not
Findings
229 participants involved
From a possible 634 target arrests (36%)
80% Male
92% White British
52% Unemployed
63% data collected on weekends
Arrest Classifications
Expanded as some DO’s included
people outside of the remit
Assault – 50%
Public Order – 40%
Other – Drug possession, sexual offences,child neglect, arson etc – 10%
For the 172 participants who completed a questionnaire 132 (75%) had an AUD
50% 14%36%
AUDIT Question 9. Have you or somebody elsebeen injured as a result of your drinking?
No – 86 (49%)
Yes, but not in the last 6 months – 15 (9%)
Yes during the last 6 months – 71 (40%)
Missing – 4 (2%)
Further analysis
Possibilities to analyse each AUDITquestions and cross-match forcertain demographic characteristics
Qualitative interviews with the
Detention Officers involved
Limitations
One North East Police Station
3 month data collection
Representative sample
Future Work
Total arrest for 3 months was >2000
Exploring the DO views may give aninsight into;
acceptability & feasibility
possible new ways of working
future research possibilities
Conclusions
229 of 634 (36%) of all target arrests werescreened for alcohol consumption
176 of 634 (28%) completed the AUDIT
126 of the 133 (95%) who screenedpositive were willing to engage in BA
Thank you
Any questions?