Police tackle youth nuisance in resort

Police were forced to deal with a number of incidents of anti social behaviour involving teenagers in Blackpool town centre over a busy holiday weekend.
Police have been trying to avoid a repeat of these scenes from 2014Police have been trying to avoid a repeat of these scenes from 2014
Police have been trying to avoid a repeat of these scenes from 2014

The first sunny weekend of the Easter break brought crowds to the Promenade but was a magnet for youths hell-bent on nuisance.

The weekend’s trouble was reported by officers on social media and is understood to be the first since [http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/crime/blackpool-police-issue-20-bans-in-two-weeks-in-gangs-crackdown-1-8386340|police used dispersal orders in a crackdown on yobs}.

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Officers who had been on patrol highlighted the issue in a social media post.

They said: “A large portion of the shift was dealing with teenagers causing anti-social behaviour at key locations in town.

“We had a number of officers dedicated to the area in order to reassure the public and local businesses which appeared to discourage the youths and they dispersed early evening.”

Earlier this year Blackpool’s North Shore Neighbourhood team launched a crackdown on yob behaviour in Blackpool.

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A number of dispersal orders were used to prevent youths from returning to trouble spots, which included Bank Hey Street and Market Street.

Lancashire Police said no further dispersal orders had been used in Blackpool since the crackdown.

Police in Blackpool had a busy weekend, with an number of incidents reported on Saturday.

Other jobs attended included an assault which was witnessed by police, the offender arrested nearby, the search for a missing child and a sat nav stolen from a car.

How do police use dispersal orders?

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A dispersal order gives the police powers to disperse groups of two or more persons in any public place if their presence ‘has resulted, or is likely to result, in any members of the public being intimidated, harassed, alarmed or distressed’. Blackpool Police hasused the orders to good effect in breaking up groups of youths in the town.

The force stepped in early, using orders in January, in the hope the problem would have been effectively tackled by the start of the summer season.