Community safety partnerships
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Gambling and community safety
partnerships
Gambling regulation can play a role in helping to contribute to
community safety, for example, by keeping crime out of gambling and
protecting vulnerable people and children. Through effective
regulation and engaging with gambling operators, councils, the
Gambling Commission and other partners ensure that the licensing
objectives of the Gambling Act are met:
- preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder,
being associated with crime or disorder, or being used to support
crime
- ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way
- protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being
harmed or exploited by gambling.
What are community safety partnerships
Community safety partnerships (CSPs) are made up of
representatives from the police and police authority, the local
council, and the fire, health and probation services (the
'responsible authorities'). The responsible authorities work
together to develop and implement strategies to protect their local
communities from crime and to help people feel safe. They work out
local approaches to deal with issues including antisocial
behaviour, drug or alcohol misuse and re-offending.
What does the Local Authority Liaison Unit
do?
The Gambling Commission's Local Authority Liaison Unit (LALU)
works with local councils, who have
certain responsibilities for the compliance and enforcement of
the Gambling Act locally, which may include test purchasing
exercises in age restricted gambling premises, as well as tackling
illegal gambling.
The Gambling Commission is responsible for regulating
gambling on a national basis, and engages with HMRC, licensing
authorities and the local police, on an individual basis and also
via regional licensing groups to undertake compliance and
enforcement activities, one example being the
Cheshire Police and The Safer Halton Partnership joint
investigation into unlawful poker at a Runcorn pub.
Providing advice and guidance to operators and
licensing authorities
The Gambling Commission also provides advice and guidance to
operators and licensing authorities including a number of quick
guides such as:
Additionally there are a number of
frequently asked questions on our website, on topics such as
poker, gaming machines, bingo, betting and casinos.
Providing advice to the police
Specific advice is available for the police, who, as with the
Licensing Act, are designated responsible authorities under the
Gambling Act, and can make representations on applications and call
for reviews:
Advice for British Police Services - March 2013. The
Gambling Act 2005 also gives police various powers of entry,
inspection and checking compliance.
A example of the police working with a local authority and the
Commission can be found in this recent Gambling Commission
press release.
LA bulletin
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monthly bulletin for licensing authorities and other
partners.
Page last reviewed: December 2012