18/09/2013

Senior Police Support 'Drunk Tanks'

Senior police chiefs have come out in favour of privately run "drunk tanks" being established to deal with alcohol-fuelled disorder.

As they launch a campaign on the dangers of alcohol, the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) have said that with the increase of problem drinking, troublemakers should be put in cells to sober up and then charged for the service.

Acpo claim that when people are so drunk they are "incapable of looking after themselves", police cells are not the best place to put them, adding that police officers were not "experts on heath" and it was often difficult to know if a drunk person should be kept in police cells or taken to A&E.

Opponents however, have said the concept of drunk tanks was "neither a viable nor long-term" fix.

(MH/JP)

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