Q764: If someone approaches me in the street asking me to take part in a survey or donate to charity and they are pushy/forceful, how can I respond?

A Community Protection Notice (CPN) is aimed to prevent unreasonable behaviour that is having a negative impact on the local community's quality of life.
Any person aged 16 years or over can be issued with a notice, whether it is an individual or a business, and it will require the behaviour to stop and if necessary reasonable steps to be taken to ensure it is not repeated in the future.

CPNs replace current measures including litter clearing, defacement removal and street litter control notices. Below are examples of when a CPN may be issued;

• when a dog is constantly escaping through a broken fence the owner could be issued a CPN requiring that the fence be fixed to avoid further escapes,
• a notice could be issued to a local shop/supermarket who are allowing litter to be deposited outside the property, or
• to prevent anti-social behaviour such as regularly playing loud music in a public area

Police officers, local authorities and designated PCSOs can issue CPNs but before doing so they must consider two things; whether the conduct is having a detrimental effect on the community's quality of life and also, whether said conduct is considered unreasonable. The individual must be given a written warning beforehand stating that if the behaviour doesn't cease, the notice will be issued.

The notice can be appealed in the Magistrates' Court within 21 days. Failure to comply is an offence and may result in a fine or a fixed penalty notice. To apply for a CPN or to enquire further, you will need to contact your local policing team. You can do this via the non-emergency 101 number or alternatively by visiting your local force's website.

A Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) focuses on more serious offenders, who engage in criminal activity as well as anti-social behaviour. It can only be issued in conjunction with a sentence that is already imposed or if the individual has a conditional discharge.

The order will either prohibit the offender from doing anything, or require them to do anything, as described in the order e.g., attendance at a course to reduce the behaviour. Before imposing an order, the court must be satisfied that the offender has engaged in such behaviour that caused, or was likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to any person and that making the order will help in preventing the offender from engaging in such behaviour.

An example of when a CBO may be issued would be where an individual has committed a drug-related offence and as part of the order, must attend a course educating offenders on the effects of substance abuse.

The order will begin from the day it is issued and, for those under 18 years old it will last between 1 and 2 years, being reviewed every 12 months from the day it was made. For adults over 18 the order will last a minimum of 2 years and can last indefinitely. Failure to comply is a criminal offence and as such can result in imprisonment and/or a fine.

For further information, we would advise that you contact your local policing team. You can do this by visiting your local force's website, alternatively, you can use the non-emergency 101 number.