Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
June 5, 2009
THE number of arrests for breach of the peace has soared in the city centre, with revellers caught doing everything from "frolicking naked" in the street to "urinating in a woman's suitcase".
The Evening News has obtained a breakdown of arrests for the city centre where police are regularly called to break-up fights and deal with drunken clubbers.
The figures show that between February and April this year, the number of arrests for breach of the peace rose 36 per cent when compared to the same period last year.
The Cowgate, George Street, Greenside Place, Lothian Road and West Tollcross top the table.
Among the more bizarre incidents revealed is a drunk charged for placing a woman in George Street in a "state of alarm" by "urinating in her suitcase and refusing to desist". Another charge from February in the Cowgate, details how a high-spirited reveller was accused of "stripping to underwear and running frolicking through street" to the "alarm" of passers-by.
Chief Inspector Kevin Murray, who is responsible for coordinating city centre policing, said: "The majority of the activity is in the early hours of the morning so it would be proper to suggest that the majority of these incidents are related to alcohol."
In the Cowgate, arrests rose by 130 per cent. The majority of the 46 arrests were for shouting and swearing, often at police. Eleven arrests were for fighting.
One man was caught "vaulting over a fence into the smoking area of a nightclub", while another was arrested in March for exposing himself.
Arrests in George Street were up by almost a third, with an arrest for "headbutting a police car".
One person was arrested for lying in front of moving traffic.
Chief Inspector Murray said the rise in recorded incidents has coincided with a marked fall in arrests for minor assault.
He said: "I would like to think that this means our officers have been able to nip this kind of behaviour in the bud, before it escalated to more serious crime.
"The reduction in minor assaults is, to my mind, a positive indicator that the multi-agency team out on the streets are addressing antisocial behaviour before it leads to violence."
City Centre councillor Charles Dundas, a Liberal Democrat, said: "I have nothing else to attribute it to other than good police work."
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