Community Safety and Leisure Scrutiny Panel

Community Safety and Leisure Scrutiny Panel 23 June 2010

COMMUNITY SAFETY AND LEISURE SCRUTINY PANEL

A meeting of the Community Safety and Leisure Scrutiny Panel was held on 23 June 2010.

PRESENT: Councillor Khan (Chair), Councillors C Hobson, Lowes, McTigue, McPartland and Porley.

OFFICERS: D Brierley, S Carr, E Chicken, P Clark, S Harker and J Wells.

** PRESENT BY INVITATION: Councillor Brunton (Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Board)

**APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE were submitted on behalf of Councillors Biswas and Mawston.

**DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

No Declarations of Interest were made at this point of the meeting.

DESIGNATED PUBLIC PLACE ORDERS

The Senior Scrutiny Officer presented a report to outline the purpose of the meeting. The Panel had commenced a scrutiny of Designated Public Place Orders (DPPOs) and had received information from the Community Protection Service and the Police. Representatives of the Neighbourhood Safety Team, the Street Warden Service and Trading Standards were present at the meeting to provide further information.

Trading Standards

One of the many functions undertaken by the Council’s Trading Standards team was to prevent the illegal sale of age-restricted products such as spray paints, solvents, fireworks and tobacco, to children. A considerable amount of effort was devoted to preventing the sale of drink to underage customers in order to assist in reducing alcohol fuelled anti-social behaviour (ASB).

Middlesbrough worked with young volunteers who, under the control of Officers, attempted to buy alcohol from shops in the town. These operations were carried out in line with a Home Office approved Code of Practice that ensured fairness, and above all, safety of the child. During 2009/2010, ninety-one premises in Middlesbrough were visited.

In addition, the Trading Standards Team provided help and support to traders. All sellers of age restricted products received a “Think 21” pack produced by Trading Standards explaining how to put a system in place to prevent illegal sales occurring.

Regular visits, assistance offered and the responsibility demonstrated by the majority of retailers meant that very few sales were now detected using conventional test purchasing. Those that did occur were largely due to negligent or inexperienced shop staff. Despite this however, there were still a number of local retailers who deliberately sold alcohol to children. These sellers had become expert in spotting Trading Standards test purchasers and inevitably refused to sell to the Council’s volunteers. Even when methods were refined as far as the Code would allow, making transactions as realistic as possible, the sellers escaped detection by limiting sales to known and trusted regulars. It was also the case that children would come from out of the area where they lived to visit shops where they knew they would be served.

In these cases, external covert surveillance of the premises was the only way in which an accurate picture of trading practices could be established and any problems dealt with. Using a remote camera or covert vehicle, Trading Standards would observe the shop. If youngsters were seen buying alcohol, Police Officers waiting nearby would be alerted to move in and apprehend them. They would be taken home, a statement taken, and the Trading Standards Officer would interview the seller, licensee or owner, as appropriate. This method had been used to good effect in the past, not only securing prosecutions but also being invaluable in getting licences revoked and providing a permanent solution to the problem.

1 Community Safety and Leisure Scrutiny Panel 23 June 2010

Members viewed CCTV footage showing an incident where under age young people had purchased alcohol and were apprehended by the Police.

Mobile CCTV was also used to record incidents and Trading Standards prioritised which shops to target according the number of complaints received. Alcohol delivery services had to operate within very strict conditions and had to have CCTV installed in the delivery van. Any person ordering alcohol by telephone had to come out to the van and purchase the goods they had ordered, showing proof-of-age identity if appropriate.

Accessibility to alcohol was also highlighted and an example was given of the current cheap deals on offer in many supermarkets for crates of cans of alcohol. Parents buying in large quantities would possibly not notice if their children took a few cans for themselves. The main issue for Trading Standards was the direct supply of alcohol to children by shops. The issue of adults purchasing alcohol for children was specifically an offence for the Police to deal with.

Use of surveillance methods was governed by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA). The new Government, however proposed that the use of RIPA by Councils would be banned, unless signed off by a Magistrate and required for stopping serious crime.

It was highlighted that this proposal, if implemented, would virtually remove the Council’s ability to combat traders who knowingly sold drink to children or adults who they knew were buying on behalf of children (proxy sales). It would also prevent detection of underage and general sales of contraband and counterfeit cigarettes from houses in the town, which in some areas were servicing up to 65% of smokers. It could also halt successful operations against home storage and sale of fireworks.

Neighbourhood Safety Team

Safer Middlesbrough Partnership promoted responsible drinking to people who lived, worked or visited Middlesbrough. As part of this campaign, Middlesbrough Council, in partnership with Cleveland Police proposed to introduce a Designated Public Place Order (DPPO) in part of North Ormesby.

The Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 introduced the power for local authorities to designate public places in which it was an offence to drink alcohol after being requested not to do so by a Police Officer. The Police, and accredited officers, had the power to require the surrender of alcohol and containers and those who failed to comply would be liable to arrest.

The key aims of the DPPO were to:

 Provide additional powers to Police to deal with persistent street drinking and alcohol-related anti-social behaviour.  Reduce disturbances in public places that were alcohol related.  Reduce drunkenness in public places.  Reduce the numbers of street drinkers and hotspot areas through combining enforcement with outreach services.

If the Order was granted a Police Officer, Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) or other accredited person such as a Street Warden could ask a person to stop drinking in a public place if:

 They were creating disorder or behaving in an anti-social manner (while drinking alcohol or under the influence of alcohol);  There was a likelihood of anti-social behaviour or disorder (while drinking or under the influence of alcohol);  Complaints had been received from the public concerning an ongoing or developing problem.

If a person continued to drink when asked not to, their alcohol might be confiscated and disposed of by the Officer. If they surrendered the alcohol and did not continue to behave in an

2 Community Safety and Leisure Scrutiny Panel 23 June 2010 anti-social manner there would be no further action. If they did not hand over their alcohol they could be arrested and could receive a fine not exceeding £500.

The restriction on public drinking would not apply to any premises or area covered by a permanent or occasional licence allowing the consumption or sale of alcohol, for example, the premises of licensed public houses or clubs. The aim of the DPPO was to ensure that residents, businesses and visitors were able to enjoy the benefits of a vibrant Middlesbrough without the risk of fear of any nuisance or disorder caused by the behaviour of a few people intoxicated by alcohol.

The DPPO in North Ormesby was due to be implemented in July 2010. All residents, licensed premises and shops had been consulted and to date no objections had been received, although the consultation period had not yet ended. The area would be clearly signed to show that a DPPO was in place and there would be further publicity when it was agreed.

It was clarified that DPPOs could not be implemented without evidence of previous anti-social behaviour taking place in that area.

Street Warden Service

Middlesbrough Street Warden Service had traditionally not enforced any DPPOs. However this had changed with the delegation of powers through the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme. It was highlighted during the review of the service that took place in April 2009 that the enforcement of DPPO powers would enhance the service that was already being provided by the Street Wardens to the public to help further reduce anti-social behaviour in Middlesbrough.

To assist Street Wardens in their role their powers were as follows:

 Request the name and address of a person believed to have been acting in an anti-social manner within the meaning of section 7 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998  Power of a Police Constable under section 12 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 to request a person to stop drinking in a designated public area and to surrender open containers of alcohol and the power to dispose of any surrendered items.  Power of a Police Constable under section 1 of the confiscation of alcohol (young persons) Act 1997 (as amended) to confiscate alcohol from young persons, require name and address of young persons in possession of alcohol and dispose of any confiscated items.

The Chief Constable of Cleveland Police under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme delegated the above powers. Wardens could only issue a fixed penalty notice once it had been evidenced that a warning had been issued to an individual for the same breach of the order or where the individual refused in the first instance to modify their behaviour. This was to give the individual the opportunity to be educated and change their behaviour for future compliance. Fixed penalty notices could only be issued by Street Wardens for environmental offences including dog fouling, breach of Dog Control Orders, graffiti, fly-posting of unauthorised distribution of free printed matter. Fixed Penalty Notices could not be issued for alcohol-related anti-social behaviour.

The accreditation for Street Wardens to use their powers delegated from Cleveland Police and Middlesbrough Council commenced on 17 July 2009. It was apparent from analysis of data collected so far, that the powers Street Wardens used most were the powers delegated from the Police relating to alcohol under the report heading “Drinking public/alcohol free zone.” The use of this power had returned a figure of 358 reports of intervention in the period July 2009-31 May 2010 from a total for all Street Warden powers used both by the Police and the Local Authority, of 510 intervention reports over the same period. A chart showing a breakdown of all powers used from July 2009 to May 2010 was included in the submitted report.

The Street Warden Service passed on information to the Neighbourhood Safety Team and Trading Standards regarding under-age sales and the system worked well. However, without any enforcement powers it was impossible for the Street Warden Service to stop the cycle of illegal sales. There was a general trend that young people wanted to consume alcohol and this often led to anti-social behaviour. The Street Wardens were usually successful when requesting

3 Community Safety and Leisure Scrutiny Panel 23 June 2010

names and addresses and confiscating alcohol, however they had no powers to detain. In order to identify repeat offenders who had already been issued with a warning, for example in relation to dog-fouling, the Service had created its own database of names and addresses taken.

AGREED as follows that:

1. the information provided be received and noted. 2. the Senior Scrutiny Officer would make arrangements for the Mayor to attend a future meeting to discuss DPPOs. 3. the Senior Scrutiny Officer would make arrangements for representatives from the Safer Middlesbrough Partnership and Children, Families and Learning to attend a future meeting to discuss the topic of ‘Diverting Young People Away from Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour’.

PUBLIC OPINION – MEMBER FEEDBACK

At the Panel’s previous meeting Members agreed to look to secure public opinion from residents in Kader, Beechwood (Easterside), North Ormesby and Middlehaven (Town Centre) Wards with regard to DPPOs.

It was noted that in general the public did not appreciate the limitations of a DPPO and often wrongly assumed that it enforced a ban on drinking alcohol in public. It was highlighted that there were no Alcohol Free Zones in Middlesbrough.

Whilst Members felt that there had been a reduction in anti-social behaviour in Centre Square, it was noted that there was also confusion around outdoor events authorised by Middlesbrough Council. At some events sales and consumption of alcohol were permitted, whilst at others it was banned.

A recent example was the broadcasting of a football match on the Big Screen, where a sign in the enclosed seating area stated that no alcohol was permitted, yet for people sitting outside the enclosure there was no restriction.

AGREED the information provided be received and noted.