Police Federation reaction to binge drinking announcement

Paul McKeever, Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales says


The Prime Minister's suggestion of 'putting more police on patrol in hospitals' to help deal with problems of drunken and anti-social behaviour would be a laudable solution if the police service wasn't struggling to meet the current work load. We are already trying to cope with 20 per cent cuts to our budgets imposed on us from the Prime Minister and his government. We simply do not, and will not, have the police officers or the resources to assist the Health Service with protecting properties such as hospitals. Over the next two years we will see 34,000 police officers and staff cut from the service so it will be nigh on impossible to provide the level of service that the Prime Minister speaks of.

Unfortunately today's announcement demonstrates that the Government has addressed a very serious issue such as alcoholism in a very isolated way. Tackling binge drinking from the point of view of the Department of Health without considering the implications for other public services is unhelpful and is likely to fail.

To recommend locking people up in so-called 'drunk-tanks' to resolve the issue of binge drinking is dangerous. People who are very drunk can be vulnerable and often require medical attention so locking them in a confined space is not an effective solution. Police stations are not the right places for people with alcohol problems. We should be looking closer at finding treatment for the problem rather than sticking a part-time solution over the issue.