Clause 1 - Drinking banning orders
Violent Crime Reduction Bill
10:30 am
Sally Keeble (Northampton North, Labour)
I welcome you, Mr. Benton, to the Chair.
At our previous sitting, the hon. Member for Woking (Mr. Malins) challenged me to give an example of disorderly behaviour. When preparing for the Committee, I spent some time with the police in Northampton in order to see how measures already taken by the Government have helped the police deal with binge drinking and to see how the Bill would impact on the management of public space. I also consulted the drinks industry.
Two constables, a special constable and I, were walking along an alleyway when we came across a man urinating against a lamp post in full view of the public. It was quite a display. I understand that if it had not been in view of the public it would have been considered disorderly behaviour. However, not only was he urinating in public, he was doing so close to a pub window where a lot of women could be seen drinking. He put up quite a performance. He was drunk and disorderly in a public place.
The police issued him with a fixed penalty notice. That was the first time I have seen them used, and it seemed a good form of summary justice for dealing with a young man who, given that it was quite early in the evening, was not only very drunk but clearly intent on continuing to drink.
That might have been the end of the matter, but the young man's friends started to crowd around and jostle the police, giving them a lot of cheek. At one point, I thought that it would be impossible for the police to finish issuing the fixed penalty notice. The young man—he was from Market Harborough—had come to Northampton town centre to cause problems. The police had to call for reinforcements, and two more officers came to deal with the friends, who were also tipsy.
Most people would recognise in a commonsensical way that such behaviour was disorderly, whether or not they were drunk. More to the point, however, was the fact that five police officers were having to deal with one incident—and that meant five fewer police officers being available to deal with burglaries and other crimes in the town.