If you’re planning to buy alcohol in the near future, and prefer
not to have your mugshot made available to the local police, best
to stock up now. Because, buried deep within the debate around the
s.31 of the Policing and Crime Bill are provisions that will allow
the Secretary of State to instruct your local corner shop - or pub
- to instal CCTV and retain pictures of anyone buying alcohol for
at least 60 days. Said pics will, of course, be available to the police
on request.
Like so much other legislation passed by this government, nothing
is ever straightforward. The Policing Bill merely gives the Secretary
of State the power to issue secondary legislation (aka statutory instruments
– or executive diktat): these would consist of
- a small number of mandatory
licence conditions", which the government suggests should be
no more than nine in number, "that apply to all new or existing
licences and club premises certificates which permit the sale of alcohol,
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In other words, Parliament is being asked to sign a blank cheque:
give us the powers now, and we will use them as we see fit at a later
date. What sort of powers might the Secretary of State seek to sign
off? The government has not yet decided: but El Reg has seen a document
entitled "Draft Mandatory Code for discussion with stakeholders".
The draft has not yet been approved by Ministers, so it is possible
that some, all, or none of the measures included in it may be quietly
dropped over the next few months. However, those we have seen range
from the fussy (laying down the precise percentage of floor area that
should be given over to seating), prescriptive (requiring that staff
be trained at least every five years in conflict resolution) to the
downright intrusive (requiring that areas where alcohol is displayed
be covered by CCTV – and all footage be kept for no less than
60 days).
Full
article here
