To think that drunk tanks are a good idea?

[TheBadCat]

The idea is that police could hand over drunks to private companies, where they would be held in rooms and supervised, then charged the next day for the cost of their care.

Link to bbc article

The article mainly focuses on how this might free up police resources, but my sister works in a&e and so much of her job is babysitting people who have nothing wrong with them other than having drunk too much. This mostly involves cleaning up vomit and piss, no real nursing skills required.

I suspect that if people were vomitting the police would still have to take them to a&e, but aibu to think that most members of the public would be behind the introduction of this type of scheme?

I think UK people are very immature and silly.....and boring. You go into work and all people can talk about is where they went (to get drunk), who they went with (to get drunk), what they drank (to get drunk).....you get the picture....... Drink, drink, drink, that's all I heard about growing up. I now work with people who are mainly in their 50s and no longer seem to worship alcohol anymore.

I'll drink to that

Bloody drunken singing now

Blingbang. It was said that british people should have the same licensing hours as the Continent.
. it was also said that by bringing in 24 hr drinking less binge drinking would occur.
As you can see that was complete crap. The Uk as always and will for ever have a "LETS GET DRUNK" attitude. It will never change. For that reason, Alchol consumption has to be controlled.
I am someone who's livelhood was selling booze.
you could see the drinking culture getting worse almost on a week by week basis.

The wind blows right through ye it's no place for the old
When he first took my hand on that cold christmas eve
He promised me broadway was waiting for me

Dh and I laughed when we heard about the 24 hour drinking thing. We live on the outskirts of a well known piss head town centre and we predicted all the chaos that would ensue. We weren't disappointed either.

Well bed for me before the police clock the recycling bin and pop round for some lovely handcuffing
That's the serco police, of course

Since it was my livel'hood you think i could spell Alcohol. DUMBO

Yes I have been wandering around softly singing "The boys of the NYPD choir..."

The more I think about it and the more I read on here, the idea of a private company running this makes me very uneasy. The idea in MrsTerryPratchett's posts seems most sensible and workable whilst hopefully achieving some good. As I said in earlier posts, more needs to be done to tackle the causes, but the immediate effect of the problem also needs dealt with. This idea seems capable of doing both.

To the people asking about false imprisonment etc, even in the current situation, police cannot leave severely drunk people (i.e. cannot hold themselves up) in the street. They have to take them in/take them to a&e. So they'd just take them to the drunk tank instead. If the government introduced this, the private company would, I assume, be given the legal power to hold people in the defined circumstances that they were brought there by the police and were drunk. No false or illegal imprisonment involved. If the person sobered up enough to sign themselves out, the police could be contacted if the company thought they were still a danger to themselves or others. The company would not be rounding anyone up or arresting or even, it seems, detaining anyone capable of signing themselves out.

Yup, the more I think of a private company doing this, the more uneasy I become.

Thanks tbc. So they wouldn't actually be held against their will. That is reassuring

I do want people to be responsible for their actions pigletmania.

Alcohol and sharp knives do not mix. Any fool knows that. So if you get a bit tipsy while cooking dinner, maybe you should be shown the error of your ways.

What's really great these days is that most illnesses in the First World are inflicted by lifestyles. We can avoid them if we want. But we're weak, so we don't. Shall we charge for all of them or is there anything you do that you want to leave off the bill?

I believe the NHS should be free at the point of delivery. But if we want to start talking about charging, or an insurance system, I've no particular problem with that conversation either.

But if you go down that road you can't pick and choose. Be careful about what you wish for.

.

Does everyone agree I should be in charge of recovery and addiction services in the MN politburo when the revolution comes? That would make me a very happy woman. When I get 5 minutes I'll tell you about recovery sentencing in small units for addicts. And, automatic dry house supportive housing for people leaving prison for alcohol and drug related offending.

Fab idea..in theory but will it e cheaper. I want my cb back

quintessential that will only work in a small community. And though I don't want people being anti-social, I don't like that method of control either.

These people clog up A&e time and time again, frontline staff have to deal with them, steering thm away from real emergencies. So what is wrong with charging them so that nextime they think before testing totally wasted

I am whatever the opposite of ambidextrous is. I write with my right hand but use scissors and sharp bread knives with the left. I have been to A&E no less than FOUR times after trying to slice bread on a Sunday. Apparently bread knives are biased towards right-handers (thanks MN) hence my injuries.

Thank Christ I have always sliced my hand open on a non-drinking night or I'd be in the Drunk Tank singing Galway Bay when I should be ironing polo shirts for the week

I think perhaps some people are a little confused about how drunk you have to be before the police are interested in you. It is the slumped in the street, unable to stand, pissing and vomiting down themselves level of drunkenness that we're talking about here.

Not the having an extra glass of wine whilst preparing dinner and almost slicing off a finger.

Exactly the bad at. Don't think limited would be cooking f she was totally inebriated and passing and vomiting on herself

Pissing doh

I checked op. it's not me that's confused.

So in the city I live in we have something like this but free. If the police pick someone up who is not safe to go home they go to the "sobering up" unit. Some homeless people use it too. If the police are concerned they are too drunk or are injured as well then they go to A&E. it takes a lot of pressure off the hospital and they have access to accommodation/detox info there too.

They don't get charged for it in the same way cyclists don't get charged when they come off when they go 50km/hr down a mountain or smokers don't get charged for coming to hospital with lung cancer.

DH works in a police station cell block. Most of the people he has in are drunk regulars. There's a high proportion with mental health problems and addiction.

One of the things he hates about his job is that most of these people need help. They never get help though, they get kicked out in the morning and left to their own devices until they come back again that night.

There's definitely room for some sort of halfway house IMO. But not privately run.

In favour of drunk tank in principle.