Repeat offenders 'getting away with spot fines'

13 April 2012

Persistent offenders are avoiding getting a criminal record because they are repeatedly given on-the-spot fines, the Police Federation has warned.

Fixed penalty notices are intended to be used for low-level crime, and see offenders such as shoplifters hand over an immediate fine instead of being taken to court.

But Police Federation chairman Jan Berry said that in practice this meant that repeat offenders - whose regular law-breaking should result in a court appearance - were slipping through the net.

And a survey of solicitors for BBC Radio 4's Law In Action found that some said their clients had racked up as many as five fixed penalty notices in a matter of months without them being added to their criminal record and without probation officers being notified.

In an interview for the programme, broadcast on Radio 4's Today, Ms Berry said: "An offender can commit a number of offences and receive a fixed penalty notice for every single one of them and that would never become clear to us because we have no record of people who collect fixed penalty notices.

"It cannot be right that a person can commit a number of criminal offences and not be dealt with in a more severe way by taking them to court and giving them the punishment that they deserve."

Law In Action also said it had uncovered cases in which on-the-spot fines were being used for more serious crimes than had been intended when they were created.

The store chain House of Fraser told the programme that police had used spot fines for employees found to be stealing from their shops - something normally regarded as more serious than shoplifting.

And the programme cited a case of a barrister who tried to claim a refund from a store for items which had never been paid for and received a fixed penalty notice, when a charge of obtaining money by deception may have been more appropriate.

In a statement, the Home Office told the programme that fixed penalty notices provide "swift and effective justice, allowing the police to concentrate on more serious, violent crime".

The majority of offences are recorded on the police national computer, said the Home Office.

Last month, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said shopkeepers were "seriously concerned" about plans to extend on-the-spot fines to include repeat offenders.

Retailers believe extending the use of the fines would further dilute penalties for shop crime, which costs the industry £2.1 billion a year, and would give offenders the "green light to re-offend", the BRC said.

BRC director-general Kevin Hawkins said: "The average shoplifter makes off with £149 worth of goods every time they steal. It is a nonsense to think a repeat offender is going to be put off by an £80 fine."

The BRC made the comments in response to the Home Office consultation on revised measures to tackle anti-social behaviour.

Mr Hawkins said: "The Home Office simply doesn't understand the nature of the crime. It is not some victimless bit of naughtiness. It has a significant human and social cost, leaves shop staff open to acts of violence and costs retailers more than £2 billion a year."

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