Late-night pub opening is putting an "unacceptable" strain on police officers and NHS staff, says Leicestershire's police and crime commissioner.
Sir Clive Loader has called for a debate on the decision more than a decade ago to relax the licensing hours, enabling bars and clubs to stay open, in theory, around the clock.
Sir Clive, who will stand down from the post after the election on Thursday, May 5, said a number of venues in Leicester city centre closed at 6am or 7am.
He was speaking after his force released an end-of-year report which shows crime in the city and county had remained relatively stable for the past three years.
Police officer numbers in Leicestershire and other forces have fallen consistently each year as the force stays in line with Government public spending cuts.
At its height in 2009, the force employed more than 2,300 officers. By 2017, it expects this to fall to approximately 1,720.
He said: "I remain resolutely of the view that society needs to address the issue of alcohol, which continues to lie behind many crimes, particularly those involving assault.
"Ridiculous licensing which allows, for example, city premises to be open until six or seven in the morning, is hardly conducive to good social order.
"The associated drain on our police, coupled with the threat to medical staff remains, in my view, wholly unacceptable."
Before the licensing law was changed in 2005, most pubs closed at 11pm. Nightclubs traditionally had longer opening hours.
As the police and crime commissioner for the county, Sir Clive is responsible for setting priorities for the force and overseeing its budget.
Leicestershire's Chief Constable Simon Cole said: "The attempt to create a European-style cafe culture has not yet succeeded.
"We deploy our officers on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings to reflect the demands the nighttime economy puts on us and the hospitals and ambulance crews.
"We've had some successes recently in terms of some licensed premises in the city which have been shut down, either because of action we've taken or because the owners recognised they needed to make changes.
"We now have body-worn video available to all of our frontline officers and that means people's behaviour is captured accurately.
"The officers who deal with prisoners on Saturday and Sunday mornings show them the footage to show them how they were behaving the night before."
