Police crack down with 218 charges | Local | News | The London Free Press

Police crack down with 218 charges | Local | News | The London Free Press.

As of May 22, 2012, the City of London’s “Nuisance Law” came into effect.  The public policy driving this new law was to prevent a re-occurrence of the Fleming Drive riots that took place during last year’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.  Essentially, the bylaw seems to prohibit large parties where alcohol is involved; specifically, the new bylaw prohibits “nuisance parties” which are defined as:

“a social gathering on Premises within the Municipality and which, by reason of the conduct of the persons in attendance, results in any one or more of the following activities occurring so as to constitute a public nuisance whether occurring on neighbouring public or private property:
(a) disorderly conduct;
(b) public drunkenness or public intoxication;
(c) the unlawful sale, furnishing, or distribution of alcoholic beverages or controlled substances;
(d) the deposit of refuse on public or private property;
(e) damage to or destruction of public or private property;
(f) pedestrian traffic, vehicular traffic, or illegal parking that obstructs the free flow of traffic or could interfere with the ability to provide emergency services;
(g) unreasonable noise, including loud music or shouting;
(h) unlawful open burning or fireworks;
(i) public disturbances, including public brawls or public fights;
(j) outdoor public urination or defecation;”

The full bylaw itself can be downloaded from:
http://www.london.ca/By-laws/PDFs/public_nuisance.pdf

According to an article in the London Free Press (the link can be found at the top of this posting), the London Police Service enforced this new bylaw at least nine times on Sunday. According to the bylaw itself, under section 8, the fines could range from a minimum of $500 to a maximum of $10,000!

As of the writing of this post, I do not know of any case that has issued a legal challenge to this new bylaw. However, with the potential fines nearing the 5-digit mark, and with nine potential cases under this new bylaw, that challenge may be forthcoming.