Dr Clare Farmer1, Professor Peter Miller1
1Deakin University, Geelong, Australia
Introduction
Patron banning is widely used in response to disorderly behaviours in/around licensed venues. Bans covering one or more specific licensed venues and/or wider public areas can be imposed by licensees, police officers and/or as part of a formal court outcome. Despite their proliferation across Australian and other international jurisdictions, there has been limited analysis of specific patron banning policies. This paper explores findings in relation to police-imposed barring notices in Western Australia (WA) – with a particular focus on the length of bans imposed and the likely effect on subsequent offending behaviours.
Method
WA Police provided de-identified data relating to 4023 barring notices which were imposed between 2011-2020, along with the offender records for recipients. The data were analysed by ban length, the likelihood of further bans and offender type.
Results
Mean ban lengths increased across the period (from 4.46 months in 2015 to 6.82 months in 2019). Longer initial bans (of 6-12 months) were associated with a lower likelihood of a subsequent ban – with each additional month associated with an 11.4% increase in the likelihood of not receiving a second ban. Across the dataset, some notable anomalies were identified for individuals categorised as prolific offenders.
Conclusion
WA adopts an individualised approach to the determination of barring notice lengths, following review of the incident and offender. The findings suggest that, while barring policy is appropriate, a number of operational refinements can help WA Police to optimise their behavioural effect/s.
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