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2 The Fixed Penalty Notice Scheme
It is the Scottish Executive's firm intention to deal with anti-social and nuisance offending. It is also their intention to minimise police bureaucracy and maximise officers' time spent on the street in order to deal with more serious crime.
The Scottish Executive's Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 17 June 2004. The Act contains a wide range of provisions to tackle antisocial behaviour, from the development of antisocial behaviour strategies through to a ban on the sale of spray paint to people under the age of 16. Part 11 of the Act provides the police with new powers to issue Fixed Penalty Notices ( FPN) for ten crimes and offences of an antisocial nature committed by offenders aged 16 and over.
The Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 has defined a schedule of 10 offences and designated them as penalty offences. The Act provides that a Constable may issue a penalty notice where he has sufficient evidence to prove that a person has committed one of the penalty offences in the schedule. The power to issue a penalty notice is discretionary and provides an additional option to existing methods of disposal. Officers retain discretion to deal with offenders in any way previously available to them. There is no compulsion for officers to issue a fixed penalty notice.
Until the introduction of the Act, police had been able to respond to acts of disorder by, essentially although not exclusively, either doing nothing, issuing a verbal warning, reporting for summons or arresting. Where an arrest was made and a charge brought officers were required to spend a considerable amount of time completing custody records, preparing case papers for the Procurator Fiscal to bring a prosecution and where necessary attending court to appear as a witness.
The Scottish Executive has encouraged police forces to make use of the new powers and Tayside Police was identified during 2004 as the pilot Force in the use of Fixed Penalty Notices under Part 11 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004. Inspector Garry Gold was appointed Project Manager, Superintendent Aaron Duncan Senior User and Chief Superintendent Bill Harkins, Project Sponsor.
A Project Board was formed, an IT system procured to manage the administration of the tickets, staff recruited to manage the system and penalty ticket was agreed by the Project Board.
The fine level was set at £40, as a result of discussion at the Business Benefits Workshop. Based on the Home Office evaluation of the Pilot of FPNs in England and Wales (Halligan-Davis and Spicer, 2004) 1, it was concluded that a £40 was likely to provide a suitable balance between the need to act as a sufficient deterrent and the risk of increasing the default rate.
Tayside Police commenced the pilot on 1 st of April 2005. This evaluation covers the period from 1 st of April 2005 to 31 st March 2006.
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