Private drunk tanks - Yea or Nay?

[OwlHoot]

Reading that article my impression is that, paradoxically, the problem isn't primarily cheap booze but the expensive booze in clubs!

20 or 30 years ago, I'm sure the relative price of alcohol in pubs and clubs v shops was much lower. I mean people could easily buy a round for several others, which these days would cost £50 or more and be ridiculous. So if they reduced pub and club prices (fat chance I know, with the Government's greed for tax revenue) there'd be less incentive for people to buy cheap spirits as chasers.

[Gibbon]

Nay,

Whose is going to do the arresting?
What happens when business is slow and the private firm starts to make a loss?
Being drunk is subjective and open to abuse if there's money to be made.

[d000hg]

New law to dock JSA then.
Something very wrong if people are spending that on booze.
FFS sometimes I despair of the stupidity (or maybe "spoiledness", to coin a term) of the populace.

Change the law so that you can stop their benefit if they don't pay the fine, problem solved

This could realistically only be used as a threat though. Stopping giving them food isn't going to mean they can pay the fine, it just means they will starve. No government will do that so it's an empty threat.

Plus, what about alcoholics?

[doodab]

Plus, what about alcoholics?

I'd be all in favour of a cheap bed for the night. I don't think it should be punitive though. And obviously you don't want to be sleeping in the same bed that some pissed twat has pissed and vomited in the night before.

[vetran]

I'm all for effective policing.

Up the fines for drunk & disorderly, indecent behaviour (yes girls urinating in the street is a crime) and actually prosecute etc

Have a policeman in Duty in busy casualties at nights. I expect they would arrest quite a few known criminals as well.

People behave mainly as expected and directed if you expect them to behave 99.9 % will do. If you let them get stupidly drunk and into fights then they will.

A private organisation won't solve a woeful lack of policing. It will however bring lots of problems of its own.

Reverse Bliar's stupid idea of the 24hr smashed society as well.

[d000hg]

normal pub hours only applied to pubs though, clubs and bars could get late licenses. Judging on my town, the majority of (problem) drinking is in clubs and bars anyway.

[KentPhilip]

Nay,

Whose is going to do the arresting?
What happens when business is slow and the private firm starts to make a loss?
Being drunk is subjective and open to abuse if there's money to be made.

+1

A private firm is not able to extract money from people without agreement from them (a contract), and as most drunks would refuse to go into a drunk tank if they knew it will cost £400 it is not likely to be possible to form a contract.
Even with a contract the private firm would have to go to the small claims court to get the money if the drunk didn't want to pay (leading to CCJ's, bailiffs)

Giving private firms to issue "fines" in the same manner as the state can would be a breach of habeas corpus, overturning of which would be a BIG step for the government (and one few would support, including me).

[vetran]

normal pub hours only applied to pubs though, clubs and bars could get late licenses. Judging on my town, the majority of (problem) drinking is in clubs and bars anyway.

yes but prior to the licensing reforms late licenses were difficult to get and policed by the Police & Council. They were easy to take away!

[DodgyAgent]

They should patch up the Costa Concordia and send it up the Clyde

[Ticktock]

I'd have thought they'd just set it up so that the fine was imposed by the police, and then a portion of that paid to the private facilities for their services.

So for the "customer" it would be the same as currently being fined for drunk and disorderly.