“If someone flouts the licensing laws, they face consequences which can be severe, but if they make a wrong step accidentally or through ignorance, they need a helping hand. I see it as my job, my passion, to help ensure that doesn’t happen.”
That, in a sentence or two, is Ray Bailey’s philosophy. A former Metropolitan Police licensing officer in Westminster and later Bexleyheath, Ray is part of Complete Licensing’s panel of experts, helping to ensure that every facet of licensing law is covered by the best in the business.
Ray’s area of expertise is crime scene preservation. More than 30 years’ experience with the police – and an interim period on secondment to the Home Office, developing and implementing the government’s alcohol strategy – suggests there’s not much he hasn’t seen and dealt with.
“People misunderstand many facets of licensing law, across the board from high end nightclubs to local bars. If they are granted a licence, they are required to do all they can to promote and support the licensing objectives. I realised over time that, while some licence holders might be ignoring the laws, many others fell foul of the Authorities /system? because they just weren’t aware of or didn’t understand all the requirements.
“That prompted me to put together a package about preventing and managing incidents…covering many facets of the licensing regime. This was offered free to licensees in Westminster.
“I also offered BIIAB training courses. If licensees took it up, great. If not, they couldn’t have any comeback if things went wrong. People in authority can look at an issue and think ‘that was an honest oversight, and they had put in provisions to prevent incidents. But if they didn’t make an effort, they have no excuse’. The whole initiative was and is about bringing people ‘onside’ and preventing things from going wrong in the first place. As far as I’m concerned, it’s not a question of apportioning blame, it’s saying: ‘you could do this, or that’. Could you have dealt with this better??
Having left the police and taken up his role with Complete Licensing focusing on crime scene prevention, Ray worked with us to adapt his course. “I go to venues and deliver the course to owners or licensees and staff. My focus is on early intervention. It’s a great win, to be honest. It saves licensees money and it saves their premises’ reputation which, of course, is all-important in the hospitality trade.
“My approach is: If things go wrong, here’s what you can do. Whether it concerns violence, police presence???, thefts, assaults, sexual assaults or anything else that comes under the ‘crime’ heading, I offer practical advice for all kinds of incidents
including implementing the right processes and the importance of looking after data which could be required a long time after the incident.
“Arming licensees with information is the way to go. One of things I say to people on the course is: If it was your relative would you be happy with the way this incident was dealt with? Look at it from that perspective and you’ll understand’.
“A large part of understanding crime scene preservation [CSP] is being aware of what the authorities are looking for, and licensees protecting themselves and their businesses by keeping records, keeping CCTV logs, up to date incident logs and staff statements. That way, the licensees are doing all they can to counter any possible legal action by people who might have been involved in incidents on their premises.”
Ray’s CSP course uses a Power Point presentation as its jumping off point, but that is intended to act as a prompt to help the course along. “My aim is to engage and involve the people I’m addressing, and I try to do this with a mixture of light-heartedness and solid fact I’m happy to say the feedback is positive and very rewarding.”