TILBURY has a new dispersal order in place to give police more powers to tackle Anti-social Behaviour.
The new dispersal order which came into force on July 20th for six months covers parts of the town centre including Civic Square, Calcutta Road and Ellman and gives police officers additional powers to disperse groups of two or more people causing Anti-social Behaviour. Once dispersed the individuals will not be able to return to the dispersal area for a 24-hour period and anyone who fails to comply can be arrested.
The new order has been introduced following complaints from residents about Anti-social Behaviour particularly in the town. They have proved successful in a number of areas in Thurrock.
Tilbury Inspector Paul Hooks, in charge of the town’s neighbourhood policing team, said: “Dispersal orders are working well in other parts of the borough and we are determined to crack down on Anti-social Behaviour in the town which affects the whole community. Alongside this new order we will continue to carry out high visibility patrols and work to ensure that Tilbury is remains a safe place to live, work and visit.”
These dispersal orders are all well and good but all it does is to move the problem elsewhere rather than actually dealing with the original problem, if someone is causing anti social behaviour then affect an arrest and charge them rather than taking the easy option of sending them away only for them to gather in another area and continue what they were doing.
The comment that they have proved successful in a number of areaes in Thurrock is very misleading as this does not seem to be the case, take the no alcohol ban in Grays town centre, all that has happened is that the problem has now moved to the fringes of the town and into the Park where nothing is done to solve the problem.
The only way forward is arrests – we had issues in Little Thurrock and zoning simply moves the problem to another area – neighbourhood policing making arrests cured the problem but we know it is cyclical but taking direct action immediately when the cycle of anto social behaviour begins seems to work ok!