Special powers to tackle anti-social behaviour put in place
Anti-social behaviour in the Barton Street area of Gloucester is being tackled by police with a new dispersal order.
It allows police officers to ban people from the area for 24 hours if they are causing trouble.
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Barton Street dispersal order
The order, which was agreed with Gloucester City Council, will run for six months until April 2013 and is in response to reports of groups gathering in the Napier Street play area, consuming alcohol and intimidating other members of the community.
The new measure allows police officers or Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) to direct any groups of two or more to leave an area for 24 hours when they believe the behaviour of the group is likely to result in members of the public being harassed, alarmed or distressed.
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Contact: 01858 468192
Valid until: Sunday, May 26 2013
The order covers the area within the boundaries of Metz Way, Derby Road, Barton Street and Trier Way.
Notices and maps of the areas affected are now being put up locally to warn people.
Insp Neil Smith said: "This is something we've done after consulting with the community.
"They quite rightly have concerns about individuals and groups drinking on the street or in open areas. We take those concerns very seriously and have justifiably decided to take this proportionate action to allow us to police the area robustly.
"It's a really effective tool because we can use it at our discretion to ensure the extremely small minority who diminish the quality of life for others have to leave, and receive a strong punishment if they ignore the order."
Comments
by FreeRadical1
Friday, October 12 2012, 5:12PM
“It's mainly the Napier Street play area and the Widden School area at night that are the problems. Residents have been complaining for many years to my certain knowledge. At last something is being done about the problem. I wonder if Social Services are now involved in the situation with young children (seven years old) being given alcohol by their hard-drinking parents; the last I heard, the authorities didn't want to intervene because of the ethnic background of these children. It seems to me that children of all ethnic backgrounds should be equally protected from abusive parents, irrespective of the 'traditions' of the parents.”