UK: The annual "law 'n' order" Bill
01 January 2001
The new Bill proposes on the spot fines, the retention of DNA samples from innocent people, powers to seize computers, powers to exchange all data with overseas police and agencies and a UK "FBI"
The Criminal Justice and Police Bill, published on 18 January, is 150 pages long and is backed by 68 pages of Explanatory Notes (EN). It could almost be renamed the "annual" Bill on "law `n' order" for it wraps up a whole range of new measures from fixed penalty fines for allegedly being drunk in a public place to turning the National Criminal Intelligence Service and the National Crime Squad into the UK's FBI.
Part I covers "Provisions for combatting crime and disorder". The first new measure (Clause 1) covers on-the-spot penalty tickets for "disorderly behaviour" (described as "low level, but disruptive, criminal behaviour", EN). "Spot penalties" are to cover everything from i) "being drunk in a highway, other public place or licensed premises" (of course pubs and wine-bars are where people drink to a greater or lesser degree and highways are used by people to get home) and ii) "consuming alcohol in a designated public place" (councils will have powers to "designate" places where public drinking will be banned). Associated offences like "disorderly behaviour" in a public place or being threatening or abusive or insulting are covered too.
Spot penalties are also to be used for throwing fireworks in the street, trespassing on the railway, throwing "things" at trains, wasting police time or "giving a false report", damaging or destroying property and using telephones to send "messages known to be false in order to cause annoyance".
People over 18 can be given a penalty notice on the spot and providing they pay the fine there will be no criminal record attached to the offence. Alternatively people can opt to be tried before a court.
The "penalty notice" is going to be quite an important document. It has to be given to the alleged offender and will contain:
a) a notice serving as a summons where the person opts for trial (Clause 7)
b) the "constable's witness statement" (Clause 8)
To pay the spot penalties a person has the "opportunity" (2.4) to pay the fine by "properly addressing, pre-paying and posting a letter containing the amount of the fine (in cash or otherwise)" (9.2). Whether it is wise to send cash in the post might be a subject for debate. If the person fails to pay then the courts get involved and the penalty turns into an enforceable fine.
There are obvious problems with on-the-spot penalty tickets served on the street by police officers. People are not the same as cars, a car's number plate will normally establish the name and address of the owner which police can quickly verify with the Driver Vehicle Licensing Centre (DVLC). Like stop and search the issue will arise as to whether the officer believes the name and address given if it cannot be verified, if it cannot police cells could fill up very quickly. Will the allegedly drunk and/or disorderly person be capable of exercising their right to a trial instead of paying the fine? If they are not they will have seven days to challenge the allegation of the officer and police chiefs will be given wide discretion to discontinue proceedings at any stage before trial if:
the police believe that there was a legitimate excuse, not evident at the time, for the behaviour in question or that the penalty notice had been incorrectly issued.(EN)
It takes little imagination to see that the application of these new powers in certain inner city areas could themselves lead to disorder on a much greater scale. Imagine the result of the use of such powers in places like Hackney in London on a warm summer day and would such powers be used outside Islington wine-bars, just two miles away?
The next section of the Bill, Clauses 14-35, deal with alcohol consumption on, or off, licensed premises. First, there are to be bans on public drinking in "designated public places