What is a community protection warning?
A Community Protection Warning (CPW) is a written warning issued to individuals, businesses, or organisations to modify a pattern of behaviour that is negatively impacting the local community’s quality of life. Any person aged 16 years or over can be issued with a CPW, whether it is an individual or a business, and it will require the behaviour to stop. It is the first stage before a community protection notice can be issued and is an opportunity to address issues without formal sanctions, but it cannot be appealed.
Who can issue a community protection warning?
Police officers, local authorities and designated Police Community Support Officers can issue CPWs but before doing so they must consider two things:
• Whether the conduct is having a detrimental effect on the community’s quality of life.
• Whether said conduct is considered unreasonable.
The written warning must make it clear to the individual that if they do not stop the anti-social behaviour, they could be issued with a community protection notice. However, local agencies may wish to include other information in the written warning, for instance:
• Outlining the specific behaviour that is considered anti-social and is causing a detrimental effect on others’ quality of life, as this will ensure there is little doubt over what needs to be done to avoid the formal notice being issued. Additional requirements beyond the scope of the behaviour in question should not be included. For example, generic requirements that prevent ‘any’ harassment, alarm, distress, nuisance, or annoyance.
• Outlining the time by which the behaviour is expected to have changed in order to give the alleged perpetrator a clear understanding of when the community protection notice might be served.
• Setting out the potential consequences of being issued with a community protection notice and in particular the potential sanctions on breach, which could act as an incentive for the individual to change their behaviour before a formal notice is issued.
When a community protection warning is breached the next stage is to issue the offending person/ business with a community protection notice. It is important to note that the conditions listed in the notice must be the same as the warning previously issued.
Our thoughts
When issuing a CPW, consideration must be given to accessibility, and whether the recipient understands what is required of them and the consequences of what might happen if the warning is breached.