Successive governments have set the police on a dangerous course of ‘fast and loose’ policing. This prioritises the high use of increasingly flexible powers, with low benchmarks for issue, and carrying increasingly heavy penalties. There is no credible official data on the…
1. What are PSPOs? Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) are unprecedently ‘blank cheque’ powers, which allow a single council official to ban activities in public spaces. PSPOs are contained in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, and can be issued…
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…
A new report has identified a dramatic increase in council enforcement powers – yet finds that these powers lack basic checks to ensure they are used fairly and consistently. The report – ‘From ASBOs to Covid Marshals – Are councils becoming too…
The Manifesto Club has partnered academics at Sheffield Hallam University to publish new research that shines a light on Community Protection Notices (CPNs). CPNs are unprecedentedly open-ended powers given to council officials and police officers to impose legal restrictions upon individuals, without…
For the past six years, the Manifesto Club has campaigned against the over-use of powers contained in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. We particularly raised concerns about Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) and Community Protection Notices (CPNs). PSPOs allow…
For several years, the Manifesto Club has raised concerns about the practice of local authorities employing private security guards to issue litter fines on their behalf. These private security companies are in general paid per fine: they receive between 50% to 100%…
Summary 1. This report argues that free speech and association are fundamental freedoms – and that they are also essential for the quality and vibrancy of public spaces, contributing towards spaces in which people feel at home, and where they can…
The Manifesto Club has been campaigning against Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) since the introduction of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act in 2014. We obtained changes to the Statutory Guidance at the end of 2017, which imposed a number of…
Summary In 2012, parliament passed measures designed to substantially reduce criminal records checks, and particularly to reduce the burden on volunteers. Yet six years later, this report finds that a particularly trusted cohort of volunteers – parent volunteers in schools – are…
Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) are unprecedently open-ended powers, which allow a single council official to ban activities in public spaces. For an official to make a PSPO, he or she need only believe that a certain activity has a ‘detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in the locality’. The phrase ‘detrimental effect on the quality of life’ is a broad and vague definition, which has no legal precedent. There is no requirement for the official to consult the public, or to have the order reviewed by democratically elected councillors. The powers were introduced in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, and went live in October…
PSPOS — Blank-Cheque Powers Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) are unprecedently ‘blank cheque’ powers, which allow a single council official to ban activities in public spaces within a matter of days, after a brief consultation with the police. These measures have been presented as a decentralisation of power to local communities, but in reality central government has given certain council officers the powers to create new criminal laws, with minimal checks and balances and a very low burden of proof. Our FOI requests have found that since the enacting of PSPOs as part of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act on 20 October 2014, 130 PSPOs have been passed in…