New ASBO-style order for nuisance drinkers
Tuesday, 30th March 2010.
Suffolk police and their partner organisations are starting to make use of a new tool to protect the public from those who misuse alcohol.
Civil Drinking Banning Orders (DBO) came into force in 2009 and work in a similar way to Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs).
A DBO can be made against an individual aged at least 16 if they have engaged in criminal or disorderly conduct while under the influence of alcohol, and the court considers that such an order is necessary to protect people from further conduct by them of that kind.
They can also include helping the individual to address their alcohol issues as people given an order will have the chance to complete a Positive Behaviour Intervention course.
These courses focus on educating individuals about how their drinking impacts on their health and on others. Those who successfully complete
the course can have the length of their order reduced.
Police and local authorities can apply to magistrates or the county court for the imposition of a DBO on an individual.
Prohibitions may include whatever the court considers necessary to protect others from
alcohol-related crime or disorderly conduct of the individual, for example preventing an individual from entering licensed premises in
general or banning an individual from pubs and clubs in certain locations.
DBOs can last for between two months and two years. Offenders who breach a DBO will be liable to a fine of up to £2,500. There is no
custodial penalty for breach of a DBO.
Over the course of the next twelve months, DBOs on conviction will be introduced as a sentencing option for magistrates.
Civil Drinking Banning Orders (DBO) came into force in 2009 and work in a similar way to Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs).
A DBO can be made against an individual aged at least 16 if they have engaged in criminal or disorderly conduct while under the influence of alcohol, and the court considers that such an order is necessary to protect people from further conduct by them of that kind.
They can also include helping the individual to address their alcohol issues as people given an order will have the chance to complete a Positive Behaviour Intervention course.
These courses focus on educating individuals about how their drinking impacts on their health and on others. Those who successfully complete
the course can have the length of their order reduced.
Police and local authorities can apply to magistrates or the county court for the imposition of a DBO on an individual.
Prohibitions may include whatever the court considers necessary to protect others from
alcohol-related crime or disorderly conduct of the individual, for example preventing an individual from entering licensed premises in
general or banning an individual from pubs and clubs in certain locations.
DBOs can last for between two months and two years. Offenders who breach a DBO will be liable to a fine of up to £2,500. There is no
custodial penalty for breach of a DBO.
Over the course of the next twelve months, DBOs on conviction will be introduced as a sentencing option for magistrates.
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