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A glass of wine with your picnic? It's against the law!

More than 700 “controlled drinking zones” have been set up across England, giving police sweeping powers to confiscate beer and wine from anyone enjoying a quiet outdoor tipple.

Local authorities are introducing the zones at a rate of 100 a year, The Times has learnt. Some cover whole cities, a radical departure from what the law intended.

Once a control zone is in place, police can seize alcohol from anyone who is not on licensed premises, even if the bottles or cans are unopened. Although drinking is not banned in the zones, police can ask anyone to stop drinking and it is an offence to refuse, punishable by a maximum £500 fine. No explanation or suspicion that the person could be a public nuisance is required. The highest fine will soon rise to £2,500.

Campaigners say that if the rapid spread of the zones is not halted it will soon be impossible to find anywhere to have a picnic or outdoor drink on a summer’s evening.

Laws giving local authorities the power to set up the zones, or “designated public place orders”, were introduced in 2001 at the height of government concern over public drunkenness. The law made clear that the zones should cover only streets or city centre areas with a record of alcohol-related disorder or nuisance.

There are now 712 zones, some covering vast areas where there is no record of disorder. There are city-wide bans in Coventry and Brighton, which cover even the quietest suburban streets. Birmingham tried to introduce a city-wide ban but had to back down in the face of public opposition. Instead it is introducing the drinking zones gradually across the city.

Camden in North London has a borough-wide ban, apart from Hampstead Heath, Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill. The Times has learnt that Lambeth in South London is planning to make the whole borough a controlled zone, with no exemptions, even in Brockwell Park, a local beauty spot that is popular with picnickers.

Research on the zones has been conducted by The Manifesto Club, a campaign group that challenges what it sees as excessive regulation.

It found that police are routinely ignoring Home Office guidelines and confiscating bottles of wine and beer from peaceful picnickers and other adults having a quiet drink outdoors. In some cases, drinks have allegedly been seized by police from adults who have just bought them from an off licence and are on their way home.

Police in Brighton and Hove appear to be the most energetic in the country. Their 45 community support officers are making 25 confiscations a week. The Manifesto Club was inundated with claims of over-zealous enforcement, such as two young women forced to pour away glasses of wine that they were drinking on the beach.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article6571617.ece

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Boozy cop in hot soup over sick pic joke

A WPC has lodged a complaint against a cop accusing him of posing with his manhood dangling in her face while she was sleeping and then texting the indecent pics to colleagues.

The pictures were taken earlier this month in Manchester’s Press Club where a group of Salford cops were boozing.

The cop suspected of sick prank has been put on restricted duties and could face gross indecency charges if the woman makes a criminal complaint.

“Among them was a WPC who’d fallen asleep. There had been a lot of macho banter during the evening and she became the focal point of that,” News of the World quoted a source as saying.

“One man pulled down his trousers and started striking very lewd poses.

“The pictures were shared around the division and the WPC found out about them and made a complaint,” the source added.

Gtr Manchester Police said: “Our Professional Standards Branch is investigating an allegation of gross misconduct.”

www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/boozy-cop-in-hot-soup-over-sic
k-pic-joke_100184836.html

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