Cheshire Constabulary and Ellesmere Port & Neston Borough Council have declared areas of Overpool and Rivacre a
dispersal zone under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003.
POLICE will be able to ban rowdy youngsters from the city centre for 24 hours under a new
dispersal zone which comes into force today.
A police
dispersal zone was put in place across the city centre during the Bank Holiday weekend, following reports of disorder and drug dealing, as well as gangs congregating in and around Ropewalks.
They can banish people from the
dispersal zone for 24 hours, and anyone who disobeys an order can be arrested, fined up to pounds 2,500, or jailed for three months.
The so-called
dispersal zone would allow officers to order youngsters to leave the area if they are causing trouble - and prosecute them if they return.
Neighbourhood Inspector Geoff Stewart said yesterday: "This
dispersal zone is being put in place to tackle incidents of youth disorder and antisocial behaviour in and around the Liverpool 8 area, and will continue over the coming weekend for the same purpose.
Over the past four nights officers have implemented
dispersal zone orders as they tried to quell increasing anti-social behaviour and disorder in the area.
Sgt Kerry Young, of Chace Avenue Police, who is helping to enforce the
dispersal zone, said: "We want to appeal to the parents of the teenagers who are behaving in an antisocial manner.
"Officers will remain in the L8 area to uphold the current
dispersal zone." A
dispersal zone has been place on Toxteth for the past four nights.
Malcolm Benny, a 64-year-old who lives in Mayflower Drive, Stoke Hill, on the border of the
dispersal zone, said there had been vandalism to a bus shelter and cars in the area recently.
The area covered by the
dispersal zone includes the area bounded by The Strand, Strand Street, Wapping, Parliament Street, Catherine Street, Myrtle Street, Mount Pleasant, Brownlow Hill, Great Newton Street, London Road, Commutation Row, Churchill way, Tithebarn Street, Chapel Street and then back to The Strand.
This area is to become a designated
dispersal zone where police can order groups of people to disperse or leave the area, and follows other successful schemes in other parts of Coventry.