Transcript of this meeting [PDF]

sobriety programme as a replacement for other things but we would like to see it asanother tool in the armoury that might be deployed by magistrates and others for using.Interestingly, in terms of police officer time, the truth is, in South Dakota, it does notinvolve a large amount of police officer time. They, in fact, use college kids to do thetesting in the morning and in the evening and if somebody fails their test the police arethen called.Toby Harris (AM): The kids go out to them?Kit Malthouse (Chairman): No. The kids staff the centre. It might not just be collegekids. People staff the centre who want a job first thing in the morning and in the evening.Take the tests. If somebody fails the police are then called to come and take the personaway. Because the compliance rate is so high - 99.6% - the police are, in fact, hardlyever called and people are hardly ever put in the cells for the same reason; because thecompliance rate is so high.We just think, from a policy point of view, we have been doing things the same way inLondon around alcohol for quite a long time and yet the problem continues to grow. Wethink it would be a good idea to have a look at a pilot scheme in London aroundsomething that somebody else has done in the world that has shown some success and seeif we can make it work here.There are some problems - you are right - that will need to be ironed out; not least themobility across London and where people might be tested and where you might pilot it.At the same time, they have similar problems there. It is a vast area and people oftenhave to travel many, many miles to get tested, so we have some advantages over them.Nevertheless, we could just sit back and do nothing. We thought it was an interestingidea and worth exploring.Toby Harris (AM): When you say ‘we’ that is because you have been talking to theCommissioner about the details of how this might work?Kit Malthouse (Chairman): We have had a couple of conversations about it but, as Isay, it should not involve a huge amount of police time.Toby Harris (AM): So ‘we’ as in this case; this building or you or …?Kit Malthouse (Chairman): We have had conversations with the GLA, with theLondon Criminal Justice Partnership, with the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice(MOJ) about it. Yes.Toby Harris (AM): So when will we get a report back on this?Kit Malthouse (Chairman): Why would you get a report?www.merrillcorp.com8