First-time offenders involved in minor scraps while drunk will be offered behavioural courses instead of standing trial under a new police scheme.
The courses are billed as similar to speed-awareness sessions offered to drivers stopped for traffic offences.
Officers will have discretionary powers to offer the course to first-time offenders arrested for offences such as being drunk and disorderly in public. Those who attend will pay £46.50 but avoid conviction and a potential fine or prison sentence, and the incident will not show on criminal-record checks for employment or appointments.
The move is the latest attempt by authorities to reduce the number of offenders being sent to prisons, which are severely overcrowded.
The scheme, launched in Gwent, southeast Wales, was not a “get-out-of-jail-free card”, Jeffrey