BEGGARS

People are being urged not to give money to beggars on the streets and instead, put the cash in special containers located in shops and stores across the city. The money will go to agencies that support homeless people and give food and shelter. The scheme, Make It Count, also aims to highlight the fact that begging and homelessness are not always directly linked and raise awareness about issues surrounding homelessness.

City Centre Management Derby has organised the campaign, which is supported by Derbyshire Constabulary, Derbyshire Community Foundation and Derbyshire Housing Aid. City centre manager Melanie Allen said, "We aim to reduce the amount of aggravated begging in the city centre by highlighting the potential problems associated with giving directly to people begging on the street." (Source: BBC News, Jul/06)

Police are asking the public for help in tackling aggressive street beggars who cause a daily nuisance in the city centre by intimidating people into handing over money, which they then spend on drugs and alcohol. Often they become aggressive, shout abuse at passers-by and fight among themselves. Police are looking to go to the courts to get anti-social behaviour orders against several of the main culprits and are urging the public to report any begging incidents. Any complaints will be used in evidence against the culprits, and if they break the terms of the court order they could face jail. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Mar/06)

A White Paper includes measures to crack down on "nuisance neighbours, yobs, drunks, drug users and beggars" and to tackle problems from "dysfunctional" families. Beggars will be handed criminal records, and fixed penalty fines will be imposed on anti-social kids as young as 10. The document, marked "draft, restricted policy", will be followed by an Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, to be pushed through Parliament in its current session. The proposals are supported by Tony Blair and David Blunkett, the Home Secretary but they will alarm some Labour MPs and fuel criticism that the Government is adopting "illiberal" measures.

The 65-page report, Winning Back Our Communities, takes a particularly hard line on beggars. It says the public feels intimidated by people begging and states: "There is no need for anyone to beg in this country." It denies claims there is a "no home, no benefit, no job" cycle, saying the homeless are entitled to benefits. "The reality is the majority of people who beg are doing so to sustain a drug habit and giving them money on the street does not serve to help them deal with their problems at all. Beggars are also very likely to be caught up in much more serious crime."

The White Paper says begging will be made a recordable offence, so convictions form part of a criminal record, and persistent offenders can be fingerprinted. After three convictions, courts will be able to impose a "community penalty" such as drug treatment or work in the community. There is no mention of plans floated previously by Mr Blair to cut child benefit payments to the parents of truants or persistent offenders. They are believed to have been dropped after a cabinet rebellion.

Instead, there will be a big extension of the fixed penalty notices of £40 or £80 currently being piloted for people aged 18 and above, for offences such as being drunk and disorderly, throwing fireworks and causing harassment, alarm or distress. "Fixed penalty notices offer speedy and effective action that frees police and court time. The offender receives an immediate punishment which, if paid, will not result in a criminal record," says the White Paper. The spot fines will be extended to truancy, low-level offences of criminal damage, cycling on the pavement and urinating in the street.

The fines will be extended to those aged 16 and 17 on a trial basis and if offenders have no income, parents will have to pay the penalty. The White Paper adds: "We are also considering extending the fixed penalty scheme to 10 to 16-year-olds." At present, the fines can be imposed by police and community support officers. Under the proposals, chief constables will be allowed to grant other "accredited persons" the power to issue them ­ but the report does not spell out who.

Designated local education authority and school staff will be able to issue fixed penalty notices to parents "who condone or ignore truancy". Schools will be able to ask parents to sign contracts if their child plays truant or has been excluded. Refusal to sign would result in a fixed penalty fine or prosecution (for truancy) or a court-imposed parenting order (when children have been excluded). "Intensive fostering" will be an alternative to custody for children when parents can no longer cope. In some cases, that would provide respite care for parents and the children might go home at weekends.

Other offenders would need a complete break from their family to allow for "intensive therapeutic work" in new fostering homes, to help with problems such as drug use and mental ill-health. The Government will experiment with new Community Justice courts that "take justice into the community". Trained adjudicators will deal with low-level disorders and housing matters, including eviction. Police will be given powers to disperse groups of people who appear "threatening, intimidating and frightening to other people". Restorative justice, under which offenders clear up their own graffiti and vandalism, will be extended to all age groups at all stages of the criminal justice process.