March 4, 2011 10.42 am This story is over 169 months old

Social media shaming for violent drunks

Banned: To name and shame those banned from drinking in Lincoln, police plan to post pictures of them on Facebook and Twitter.

Lincolnshire Police will try a new, tougher stance on alcohol-related violence, promising to ban offenders from drinking in Lincoln for up to two years.

To name and shame those banned from drinking in Lincoln, police also plan to post pictures of them on Facebook and Twitter.

Police say the social media shaming will be used so that people can report any breaches in the bans.

Drink Banning Orders mean magistrates can impose sanctions like banning people from entering any pub, bar, club or shop to buy alcohol.

They can even go as far as banning an offender from being in possession of alcohol in any specified area.

Any breach of one of these orders can lead to a fine of up to £2,500.

Superintendent Dave Lynch said: “Our aim is to focus our resources and efforts on arresting these offenders and exploiting existing legislation to ensure we exclude them from our streets.

“In doing this we hope to drastically reduce the amount of drink-related violence on the streets of our villages, towns and cities.

“Offenders will be named on conviction and if applications for orders are successful, their pictures will be posted on our Operation Nova Facebook and Twitter pages so people enjoying a good time safely in town can check on their phones if they think they’ve spotted one of our banned offenders.

“We want them to call us so we can enforce this legislation.”

A different approach

Carli Smith enjoying her last cocktail before being sober for a month. Photo: Operation Nova Blog

To connect with younger people, Lincolnshire Police are working with University of Lincoln student Carli Smith.

She has agreed to give up alcohol for a month and write a blog about her experience.

“I came up with the idea of being a sober student to find out what it would be like to go out and about in Lincoln without alcohol,” Smith said.

Superintendent Lynch added: “Carli’s blog is really interesting and we hope it inspires introspection in terms of people analysing their own drinking behaviours.”

Follow Carli Smith on her month off the booze on this blog.

Source: Lincolnshire Police