No prosecution for street urinating
Lord Advocate instructs no police reports to procurator fiscal unless other offence committed
Lord Advocate Colin Boyd has instructed Scottish police officers to stop reporting to the procurator fiscal cases of urinating in the street.
The move is intended to free up police resources. It comes as senior officers in Tayside Police claim success for a pilot scheme under which offenders are issued with on-the-spot £40 fines.
The 1982 Civic Government (Scotland) Act currently states that urinating or defecating in public is an offence and anyone doing so is liable to a maximum fine of £500. However, Tayside officers say that the fixed penalty for this offence – and other antisocial behaviour-type offences such as breach of the peace – have cut down the amount of time officers have to spend compiling reports for the procurator fiscal. They believe the scheme should be extended to the rest of the country.
A spokeswoman for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said that in certain circumstances a report should be submitted, if the offender’s conduct also amounted to a breach of the peace.
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