The use and abuse of Community Protection Notices, 2020-2022
1. What are CPNs? Community Protection Notices (CPNs) are powers contained in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, imposing legal restrictions or requirements upon individuals. Police and council officers can issue these notices without going through a court, if they…
Ask your MP to challenge the ‘Busybody Bill’
The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 (aka the ‘Busybodies’ Charter’) has led to absurdities such as pensioners being fined for riding bicycles or feeding the birds, and bans on loitering or standing in groups. Now the government wants to amp…
Campaign Against Community Protection Notices
What are Community Protection Notices (CPNs)? Community Protection Notices (CPNs) are powers contained in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, imposing legal restrictions or requirements upon individuals. Police and councils can issue these notices without going through a court, if they believe that somebody’s behaviour is having a ‘detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in the locality’. The CPN must be preceded by a Community Protection Warning (CPW), which is issued on the same grounds. The CPW states that if the person does not follow the requirements then a CPN will be issued. It is a criminal…
Help us fight the ‘Busybodies’ Charter’
The ‘Busybodies’ Charter’ represents the most draconian and unchecked power ever given to officials in the UK. Now the government is planning to extend it further, including giving the police power to write their own laws. We need you to join us in the…
Victims of arbitrary power: CPN Case Studies
Introduction Community Protection Notices (CPNs) give powers to police and local authorities to impose legal restrictions on individuals, banning them from certain activities or requiring them to do certain things. These notices can be written out on the spot, on the basis…
LTNs and the side stepping of public opinion
There is currently a new phase of extensive growth of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), with Hackney planning to ban cars on three quarters of roads, and major new restrictions being launched in Bath and Oxford. Our report From ASBOS to Covid Marshals included…
Smokers fined for putting cigarette down for a moment
The campaign group North Wales Against Kingdom Security is helping two smokers who were fined for putting lit cigarettes on the ground for a moment. In one case, a bus driver got off the coach and lit a cigarette outside the door. An elderly gentleman wanted to come down the stairs, so the bus driver put his cigarette on the floor, and helped the man off. He then picked the cigarette and finished it but an operative leapt in and issued him a fixed penalty notice in the meantime. In another case, a lady (who is is disabled and uses a mobility…
£400 fines for putting rubbish in the bin
Now Rother Council has joined Camden Council in fining members of the public for putting their rubbish in the bin. A woman in Battle, East Sussex, picked up waste that had been strewn over a council carpark after seagulls ripped open bin bags. Because she put the rubbish in the carpark bins, she was sent a £400 pound fine for ‘fly tipping’. Like Camden, Rother Council subcontracts enforcement to a private company, who is paid per fine (in this case, the company is National Enforcement Solutions). At worst, the lady made a well-intentioned mistake of putting rubbish in the nearby bins. By…
Manifesto Club response to ASB Action Plan
The government’s new Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan represents a significant increase in police and local authority powers to direct individual behaviour, ban public activities, and issue on-the-spot penalties. However, the plan also contains some good news of potential increases in scrutiny, as…
Private enforcement corrupts the courts
Our report, the Corruption of Punishment 2022 highlighted the injustice that results when on-the-spot fines are issued by private contractors being paid per fine issued. The market in on-the-spot fines is also having a knock-on effect on the court system, as councils…
The Corruption of Punishment 2022 – Report
Defra 2019 guidance prohibited the issuing of penalties for financial motives. Yet a new Manifesto Club report finds that council enforcement is ‘more marketised than ever’, with a record number of private companies competing for the right to issue FPNs for environmental and ASB offences. The Manifesto Club report – The Corruption of Punishment 2022 – found a ‘cut throat’ market, with 10 private companies pitching for council enforcement contracts (up from 5 companies in 2018). 90% of councils paid the company per FPN issued, or used another payment system that gave incentives for the company to issue as many fines as…
Campaign to End Fining for Profit
What is fining for profit? Private security companies are employed by local authorities to issue penalties for criminal offences such as littering or anti-social behaviour. These companies are generally paid per fine issued, which creates an incentive to issue as many fines as possible. According to a recent Manifesto Club report, 66 councils employ a private company to issue fines for criminal offences. 90% of these councils pay the company per penalty issued, or use another system that means that the more fines they issue, the more money they make. Fining for profit began over a decade ago, with a single company…