Over 4,000 CPNs issued by councils each year

New research has indicated that councils in England and Wales issued 4,376 Community Protection Notices (CPNs) over the course of a year, resulting in ‘severe injustices’.

CPNs are powers contained in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, which allows local authorities to issue written notices banning an individual from doing things that the authority believes to have a ‘detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in the locality’. The notices can be issued by local authority officers, police and community support officers, and officials designated by the local authority.

The Manifesto Club, who published CPNs: The Anarchy of Arbitrary Power, claim that many councils lack the proper systems for considering the evidence upon which a CPN is based, often issuing on the basis of hearsay ‘without the council investigating any further into the matter’.

The report urges councils to install procedures governing the issuing of CPNs and to only issue a CPN where there is significant public harm or nuisance.