Dispersal
Order Call over Cemetery Gang Misery
MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan
McNeil, is calling on Inverclyde Council and local police to use the dispersal
powers the Scottish Parliament has given them to stop gangs making residents’
lives a misery in Greenock’s Forsyth Street and Denholm Gardens.
The two streets, next to
Greenock Cemetery, have been beset by gangs of youths drinking and wreaking
havoc – vandalising cars, fences and other property.
Speaking at last night’s
inaugural meeting of the Central Community Safety Partnership, Mr McNeil said
that the area would be an ideal candidate for Inverclyde’s first Dispersal
Order – a power introduced by the Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004,
but which, despite being in force since October 2004, has never been used in
Inverclyde.
Mr McNeil said:
“There is no justification
for hanging about drinking in the cemetery or garden of remembrance at all ours
of the night.
“My colleagues and I introduced Dispersal Orders to deal with antisocial behaviour in particular trouble hotspots. They have proved very successful elsewhere in Scotland and the area around the cemetery would seem an ideal candidate for Inverclyde’s first. There’s no point having laws on the statute books which just sit there gathering dust.
“Dispersal Orders are a
tough, but flexible, way of tackling the misery caused by antisocial behaviour. I
have therefore made representations to both Inverclyde Council and the local
police urging them to consider the use of a Dispersal Order to help end these
residents’ misery.”
He also expressed his hope
that the formation of a Community Safety Partnership for the centre of Greenock
would help drive forward the required action:
“This partnership brings
all the key players – the police, housing bosses, the council, local residents
– together to get the action which is needed in the short and long term.
I’m looking forward to working with Oak Tree Housing Association, the
police and others as the partnership gets down to work.”
Part 3 of the Antisocial
Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004 creates a new power for a senior police
officer to designate an area, in consultation with the local authority, where
there has been significant, continuous and serious antisocial behaviour, and the
presence or behaviour of groups is contributing to the problems.
In
the designated area, the police will have the power to disperse groups of two or
more people or individuals within groups where their presence or behaviour is
causing, or is likely to cause, alarm or distress to any member of the public.
In deciding whether to use that power, the constable has to be satisfied
that by doing so it is likely to reduce the alarm and distress. The
police can order any person who does not live in the area to leave and can also
prohibit them from returning to the area for the next 24 hours.
Before a senior police
officer designates an area, an authorisation notice giving the area and date
when the designation will begin and end must be drawn up.
The senior officer may also decide that the powers should only be
enforced on certain days or times within the overall period.
That information should also be included in the authorisation notice.
The notice must be published in a local newspaper and public notices
which can clearly be seen in the area. An area can be designated for up to, but
no more than, three months.
It
is not an offence to be given instructions to leave the area from the police. But, if individuals refuse to follow the constable’s
instructions, they will be committing an offence. In
these circumstances, police can arrest a person without a warrant.
ENDS
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