UK: Fixed penalties for "disorderly behaviour"
01 September 2000
The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and Home Secretary, Jack Straw, are on the record for wanting to clear the streets of people they find offensive or disagreeable. On 26 September the Home Office put out a consultation paper, "Reducing public disorder - the role of fixed penalty notices", with a deadline of 25 October for comments. The Home Office "regretted" the short period for "consultation" but this was because "it may seek to introduce legislation on the subject during the autumn".
The government is intending to extend the practice of giving fixed penalties to car drivers to people who commit "disorder" offences on the street. The range of "anti-social, disruptive" behaviour to be punished includes: spray-painting graffiti, being drunk, being drunk and disorderly, "drinking intoxicating liquor in a public place", "using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, or displaying any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting, within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress", underage purchase of drink, criminal damage, littering, dog fouling and vandalism. They would not include racially aggravated offences.
The person given a disorderly fixed penalty notice can decide to pay the fine or go to court. The penalty for the 7.2 million car driver tickets issued each year range from £20-40. It is proposed that disorderly fixed penalty notices would range from £50-100 to £100-200.
The essential difference between a car and a person is that a car has a number-plate front and back and it is therefore easy to identify a person does not. For this reason police powers will be extended to cover these fixed penalty offences to allow them to detain a person on the spot of the alleged offence and to arrest them if "the offender refuses to or is unable to substantiate his or her identity or address."
Such a law will no doubt be welcomed in the shire counties and the suburbs but be virtually unenforceable in many inner city areas. It will lead to "detention on the streets", add to the harassment caused by "stop and search", will discriminate against and penalise the poorest, and could lead to arrests on a scale to fill all the police cells where people are unable to prove their identity or address.
Reducing public disorder: The role of fixed penalty notices - a consultation paper, Home Office, 26.9.00.