The Surfers Paradise Safety Action Project (January 1993-June 1994): Evaluation report for the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services

Abstract

The Surfers Paradise Safety Action Project, the initial phase of which was implemented in 1993, was a community-based initiative designed to reduce violence in and around licensed venues in the central business district of an international tourist area on Queensland AUS's Gold Coast. This paper describes specific aspects of the implementation of the Surfers project, and presents the results of the evaluation. Findings showed marked reductions in violence and crime (inside and outside venues) and in practices that promote the irresponsible use of alcohol (such as binge drinking incentives), as well as improvements in security practices, entertainment, handling of patrons, and transport policies. Activities in 18 nightclubs were observed by teams of students using a structured observation schedule in the summers of 1993 (before the project) and of 1994 (after the major features of the project had been implemented). Police and security data showed: preproject increases in assaults, indecent acts, stealing, and drunk and disorderly incidents; stabilization in the initial stages of the project; and sharp declines following the period in which a Code of Practice was instituted. Verbal abuse declined by 82%; arguments by 68%; and physical assaults by 52%. However, there are indications that nightclubs became more "upmarket," suggesting that displacement of problem patrons may have been at least partly responsible for the impact of the project. In addition, observational data collected over the summer of 1996 indicate that violence has returned to pre project levels, and that compliance with the Code of Practice has almost ceased. It is hypothesized that only a system of regulation that integrates self-regulation, community monitoring, and formal enforcement can ensure that the achievements of community interventions are maintained on an indefinite basis.

The main purpose of this paper is to report the manner of implementation and the results of a community-based intervention designed to reduce alcohol-related crime, violence, and disorder in and around licensed premises in a major tourist location. The project, carried out between March and December 1993, involved a partnership of a university research team; police, health, and other government agencies; and community and business groups, and was extremely successful in the short term in reducing violence and other offenses. The absence of a formal control group and the difficulties involved in measuring displacement prevent precise quantification of the causal impact of the intervention. However, the project was less successful in the long term, for reasons that are reasonably well-understood but difficult to control. A second major objective of the paper is therefore to reflect on the lessons arising from the project for effective long term regulation of licensed premises. The chapter by Macintyre and Homel in this volume is a sequel to the present chapter, and reports the results of a specialized sub-study of the problem of crowding and aggression in nightclubs that was undertaken as part of the Surfers Paradise Safety Action Project. That chapter should be read in conjunction with the present one to gain a more complete overview of the study's findings with respect to the design and management of nightclubs.