drunk and disorderly

[Suzy~Q]

Can someone be arrested by the police and be charged for being drunk and disorderly almost three months after the event, even though the person was spoken to by the police and name and address taken, but no further action taken on the day in question?

[New Judge]

This sounds unusual but is within the law.

For �summary� offences (i.e. those that can only be heard at the magistrates� court, of which �drunk & disorderly� is one) there is a statutory time limit of six months from the date of the alleged offence for the prosecution to �lay an information� � that is, to start proceedings - before the magistrates.

[Bewlay Bros]

New Judge, forgive my lack of ignorance on the new arrest laws. But would this not be a summons as opposed to an arrest? I have heard of a "necessity test" in order to arrest people for such offences.

And I agree D&D is usually a "there and then" offence.

My advice would be to complain that he wasn't actually arrested at the time. D&D has to be in public (no offence in private) so in effect the Police have left a drunk man on the streets. This is therefore a breach of their duty of care.

Worth a try, maybe???

[New Judge]

Certainly would be, Bros.

I can't imagine any circumstances where it would take three months to decide that enough evidence exists for a D&D charge. As you say, it is usually a "there and then" arrest and even if it was decided to proceed at a later date, I cannot imagine an arrest being made (I'm not even sure that it is an available option after the event).

Furthermore, I imagine our hard-pressed upholders of law and order have better things to do than to arrest drunks three months after they have sobered up!

Perhaps Suzy~Q could provide more details.