Drunk Tanks, good idea?

[travelchic]

Raise the age of buying alcohol to 21 or even 25. I think when we get older, the hangover kills us, which makes us more responsible. My 20 year old son can drink himself into a coma, then get up the next morning, eat some breakfast, and he's good to go. I'm a bit envious of that lol.

 

Debs

[Nats]

I like watching the Kings Cross A&E documentaries , one episode had nearly every cubicle taken up with abusive drunks. I spoke to my sister who works in A&E in North Wales after, and said I don't know how you put up with it. You all really are saints.

Sometimes it can be amusing, the happy drunk that's maybe just knocked out their shoulder or ankle on the dancefloor, or fallen over at a birthday party...but the abuse we often have to take is disgraceful. People can become very aggressive & spit & fight...I remember back home (and I know every hospital is different & their management strategies vary) if someone was brought in by the cops, requiring cuffs, the police would remain, and if the patient became abusive they were charged. In my current hospital the police bring in these louts, kicking & screaming, often requiring sedation (which I am against - but that's another issue) we treat their injuries (if they have any) wait for them to wake up, if they awake & are still aggressive, they get sedated again until the rouse peacefully. Usually when they sober up, they are discharged home. No regard or questions raised as to how they ended up in A&E. we clean up their vomit, faeces (yip, often they **** themselves) they urinate on the floor, if they even manage to get their trousers down, they assault staff & spit at us...and we just wave them off when they're sober. Zero tolerance does not exist. I feel they should leave in handcuffs.

[paul1977]

This idea was muted on sky news last night and I just wondered what people thought. Drinking is out of control these days and something needs to be done and if it makes the drunks pay for it, then I'm all for it myself.

 

Privately-run "drunk tanks" should be considered to tackle alcohol-fuelled disorder, police chiefs have said.

 

 

Under the idea, drunks who are a danger to themselves would be put in cells to sober up and then pay for their care. The Association of Chief Police Officers, which is launching a campaign on alcohol harm to coincide with university freshers' season, said problem drinking was on the increase.

 

The Police Federation said the plan was "neither a viable nor long-term" fix.

This proposal throws up far more questions than answers, particularly with regards to accountability”

 

Steve White, Police Federation of England and Wales

Northamptonshire Chief Constable Adrian Lee, who leads on the issue of problem drinking for Acpo in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, told the BBC that police cells were not the best places for people who had got so drunk they were "incapable of looking after themselves".

 

Nor should the taxpayer have to pick up the bill for people's drunkenness, he said.

 

"Why don't we take them to a drunk cell owned by a commercial company and get the commercial company to look after them during the night until they are sober? "When that is over, we will issue them with a fixed penalty and the company will be able to charge them for their care, which would be at quite significant cost and that might be a significant deterrent."

 

'Sticking plaster'

Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Grove also recently raised the idea of introducing drunk tanks. "Public services are a finite resource and we need to appreciate that," he said in an interview with the trade journal Police Professional.

 

An Acpo spokeswoman said the measure would only apply to those drunks who were a danger to themselves - those who had committed a crime would be taken to a police cell, while those who were ill would be taken to hospital.

Dominic Casciani, Home affairs correspondent Every Saturday night, police mop up drunken behaviour and dump people on paramedics and hospitals - all at huge cost. But once the police leave the scene, there's nothing to stop anyone walking away, assuming of course they're actually capable of doing so.

 

So while the idea of a place where alcopop-fuelled drunkards could crash out and wake up to a bill for enforced bed-and-breakfast looks compelling, it's just not clear how it could work in practice and in law.

Police only have limited powers to detain you - and your time in custody must be necessary and the reasons for it clear.

 

So where exactly, in legal terms, would people be held and under what power? Clever lawyers could argue that time spent sobering up in a drunk tank amounted to false imprisonment and that would give the police a headache as bad as the detainee's hangover. The police could not walk away from a drunk who was unable to stand as they had a duty of care but it was not the best use of police resources. As there is currently no formal proposal, Acpo did not have any details on cost or implementation.

 

Steve White, vice-chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents officers, said he would favour "any measure that frees up police officer time and gets them back on to the streets". But he said: "This proposal throws up far more questions than answers, particularly with regards to accountability.

 

"Privately-operated drunk tanks are neither a viable nor long-term solution to binge drinking and merely represent a sticking plaster for the problem."

We aready have them in Australia , it's to catch all the pissed up drivers.

[Guest The Ropey HOFF]

Raise the age of buying alcohol to 21 or even 25. I think when we get older, the hangover kills us, which makes us more responsible. My 20 year old son can drink himself into a coma, then get up the next morning, eat some breakfast, and he's good to go. I'm a bit envious of that lol.

 

Debs

 

I have no problems with young folk getting drunk, but if they become violent or threatening and abusive, or even so drunk they are almost unconscious, then this Drunk Tank idea is good one to me. Let the A&E nurses, Doctors and the police do their job, instead of wasting time on these idiots.