A dispersal order has been put in place in Horwich order to help reduce anti-social behaviour, and help prevent instances of violence.
The measure has been taken by the local policing team in response to community concerns around groups of young people gathering in Horwich, and engaging in violent activity.
The order will come into effect from Friday 30 April at 8pm 2021, and remain in place until Sunday 2 May 2021 at 8pm, and will cover Horwich in its entirety.
Inspector David Johnston, from GMP’s Bolton district, said: “I have been extremely concerned about an emerging problem of anti-social behaviour in the area which is fuelled mainly by large groups of young people gathering in Horwich Town Centre causing issues for local businesses, anti-social behaviour in Station Park disrupting the local community, and over this last weekend a large group of youths confronted officers whilst they were dealing with an incident in the town centre. This is unacceptable and clearly needs dealing with now to prevent such levels of disorder and before someone sustains a serious injury.
“Therefore, I have authorised the dispersal order for this weekend and we will have additional officers in the area to deter such behaviour and educate people. The last resort will be the use of the dispersal power, but if it is needed we will use it robustly.
“I would please ask parents to make sure that they know where their children are and ensure that they are not part of these groups who are in the minority and ruining our community.”
The order has been granted under Section 34 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, and allows for Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and police officers to direct a person to leave the area specified within the order if they have reasonable grounds to suspect that their behaviour has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to members of the public.
