North-East drinkers who get into trouble with the police are being warned where their drinking could lead them. Health Editor Barry Nelson reports on a £1m national pilot scheme being tested in the region.

IT seems ironic that a North-East problem drinker had to wait until she was arrested to get the professional help she needed.

The unnamed woman had repeatedly tried to get help from her family doctor, but to no avail.

It was only when police officers were called to an alcohol-related incident and took her into custody that someone listened to her cry for help.

“This individual had been trying to get help through her GP but couldn’t get treatment,”

says Inspector Katherine Barber, from Cleveland Police.

After an hour-long “intervention” in her police cell by a trained alcohol worker, she was referred to alcohol treatment facilities in the region.

It meant she finally got the help she needed to try to curb her self-destructive drinking.

The woman – who recently told her story to Home Office Minister Alan Campbell on his visit to the region – was one of the first in the North-East to benefit from a new scheme designed to help problem drinkers who get into trouble with the police.

The Arrest Referral Scheme operated by Cleveland Police since last November is one of nine pilot projects operating in England.

While the scheme has only been running for five months Insp Barber, who oversees the Cleveland pilot, already believes that it is having a beneficial effect.

“It is too early to see if it has affected reoffending rates, but my gut feeling is that it is successful. It does provide a gateway to treatment for people. Some need counselling and some need further treatment.

“We have not had many coming back for a second intervention.”

The scale of the problem of drink-related offending is well known, and the North-East has particularly high levels of crime where alcohol is involved in some way.

Under the pilot scheme, anyone arrested in the Cleveland Police area where alcohol has played a part in the alleged offence, or if they are drunk at the time they are arrested, is given the opportunity to have a voluntary intervention by an alcohol officer.

Normally this is done while they are in custody and after they have sobered up.

The aim is to try to make the individual realise that their drinking has become such a problem that it could lead to them ruining their life and losing their liberty.

Those who are arrested range from people who have been arrested for drink-driving or being drunk and disorderly, all the way through to affray, grievous bodily harm and even attempted murder.

“The trained workers try to motivate individuals to change their behaviour. We offer them a second appointment and look at the different strategies they can follow to deal with their drinking,” says Insp Barber.

The alcohol workers use a visual aid to get across the various ways that excessive alcohol can blight people’s lives.

“Some people decide to change their behaviour because of their health, others may change because they are worried about the effect on their family. It may be simply because they are in police cells for the first time.”

Insp Barber knew that drink-related offending was a big problem in Cleveland, but has been surprised at the level of demand for the alcohol referral scheme.

“We are really getting a feel for how much there is out there. My initial target was 75 interventions a month. We are actually seeing about 200 people a month,” she adds.

Up to now, the Cleveland scheme has involved more than 1,000 individuals having a voluntary interview with an alcohol officer after being arrested.

“We are testing what is known as a brief intervention model to see whether it affects offending behaviour. A lot of this is about giving people a short, sharp shock. A reality check,” the inspector adds.

“When we put together our bid we thought the numbers would be smaller. So far, it is been very exciting. It is something we have never tried to do before,” she says.

What is emerging is that many problem drinkers who get into trouble with the police actively want help to control their drinking habits but have never raised this with their GP.

“It is another way of putting these people in touch with services that can help them,” she adds.

While the scheme is being run by the Home Office in the hope it can reduce crime, it is also thought that it will have health benefits for some individuals.

“While it should help us reduce alcoholrelated crime, there will also be a health benefit,”

says Insp Barber.

“It is clear that some individual are drinking at incredibly dangerous levels. It is worrying,”

she adds.

The Home Office plans to carry out a full evaluation of a selected number of arrest referral pilots, probably next year.

“We have had some very positive feedback from some of the people who have been involved in the pilot,” the inspector says.

“When the minister visited recently, one individual came back and talked to the minister about her experiences.

“ She had been trying to get help through her GP but couldn’t get it. This way she got the treatment she needed.”