There has been a great deal of confusion about the designated public places order in Brighton & Hove since it’s introduction and the aim of this article is to correct a few of the misconceptions you may have.

The designated public places order (DPPO) was introduced in Brighton & Hove in 2003 to tackle anti social behaviour related to street drinking. The DPPO gives the police the power to request that a person hands over their drink if they are found being anti social on the street with alcohol in their possession. Failure to hand over a drink when asked to do so by a police officer is a criminal offence and can result in arrest and on conviction a maximum £500 fine.
There is a common misconception that the DPPO is a ban on street drinking, it is not and the police will only request that alcohol is handed over if there is associated anti social behaviour. In order to publicise the DPPO the council is currently going through the process of updating the street signs and you may see these new signs being installed around the city over the coming months. The DPPO covers the whole of Brighton & Hove however you are only likely to come across signs in the areas that have been identified as having problems with street drinking.

The DPPO is not designed to work in isolation and it is backed up by regular patrols by the police and intensive work with individuals by the anti social behaviour outreach team. Jenny Knight Anti Social Behaviour Co-ordinator