Dr Ellen Reeves reports on the knowledge exchange event held in response to the N8 PRP Police Research Priority, ‘Reducing Harassment and Serious Violence in the Night Time Economy’.

On May 21st, the N8 PRP co-hosted with the University of Liverpool’s Criminal Justice Unit an all day workshop titled Nightlife: Safety, Security and Policing. The event was attended by over 20 academics, third sector workers, advocates, police and council representatives.

Zero Tolerance?

Attendees were welcomed to the event by Professor Fiona Measham, Chair in Criminology at the University of Liverpool, N8PRP institution lead and founder of The Loop Drug Checking Service. The first panel was chaired by Katy Porter, CEO of The Loop DCS and featured talks from Carly Heath (Bristol City Council NTE Advisor & Chair of Bristol Nights), Jason Harwin (Consultant & Senior Advisor/former Police Chief Officer), Dr Carly Lightowlers (School of Law and Social Justice, Uni of Liverpool) and Jon Drape (Event Director, Engine No. 4, Warehouse Project and Parklife). This session encouraged the audience to think about the consequences of zero tolerance policies that undermine harm reduction approaches to drugs, alcohol and violence. The role of police was also discussed, with an emphasis placed on ‘more partnerships, less police’ in nightlife spaces. Speakers also critiqued the siloing of NTE challenges from the broader context in which they sit beyond nightlife spaces. Dr Lightowler’s presentation, ‘Alcohol, Policing, and Nightlife: A Complex Relationship‘, is available as a blog post on the N8 PRP website. 

Local Initiatives

The second session sought to showcase local initiatives. Dr Ellen Reeves (School of Law and Social Justice, Uni of Liverpool and N8 PRP ECR lead) sat down with Dr Mathew Flynn (Uni of Liverpool), Andi Herring (Director, Journey Event Mgmt and Co-Founder & Former CEO, LCR Pride Foundation), Paul Fielder (Chester City Centre Manager and leader of Chester’s Purple Flag Working group) and Dawn Dines (CEO Stamp Out Spiking) to discuss a range of innovative approaches to NTE challenges. This panel saw a fruitful discussion about the value of legal and local responses to key gendered harms such as spiking. The panel and attendees also spoke about some of the opportunities presented by the Covid-19 lockdown, leading to a reassessment of how cities ‘do’ nightlife. This conversation focused specifically on the importance of public transport availability in ensuring safety.

Building the Evidence

After lunch, attendees came together for the final session of the day, which focused on three key themes: private and public securitisation; drugs, alcohol and nightlife; and gender and victimisation. A core theme in this session was how best to communicate harm reduction messages in the NTE and the importance of ‘building the evidence’ base to support innovative responses to key challenges.

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