Drunks and Disorder: Processing intoxicated arrestees in two city-centre custody suites prs150

This study explored the problems encountered in policing city centre entertainment districts and in dealing with intoxicated arrestees in police custody. Two metropolitan areas in England were studied with observational research in both sites between 10:30pm and 3:30am during the week period and the weekend. Standardised data was collected from 169 detainees brought into the custody suite. In addition 31 semi-structured interviews were undertaken with police officers, licensing officers and local licensees. Three-quarters of detainees admitted to custody staff that they had consumed alcohol prior to arrest and 59 per cent were considered intoxicated.

The report concluded that alcohol tended to contribute to nuisance crime more than violent crime although binge drinkers were more likely to be violent than habitual drinkers were. In general intoxicated arrestees usually took less time to process except in public order or assault cases where it took 3-5 times longer to deal with intoxicated detainees than their counterparts. Intoxicated arrestees were also more likely to display signs of no-compliance and aggression during processing into custody and caused disruption and hygiene problems.