Croydon Extend Powers On Underage Drinking & Anti-Social Behaviour

With the summer holidays just around the corner, you can be sure that means there will be more teenagers decorating the streets well into the night, right? Wrong. 

Following the success of a previous dispersal order, implemented last October to tackle underage drinking, drug misuse and antisocial behaviour in the borough, Croydon Council have now extended the new laws to a new six month dispersal order for Central Parade, starting from Monday 12th July.

Since the original order was granted police and council officers have secured the closure of two properties for illegal Class A drug misuse, as well as working with shops, schools and parents to prevent the illegal sale of alcohol to underage drinkers, but this expired in April this year and following consultation with residents and businesses, local police officers secured the renewal of a new dispersal order.

Borough commander Chief Superintendent Adrian Roberts said:

"We are seeing real results, and the local community have told us that the dispersal order works. The local police Safer Neighbourhood Team use the powers to break up groups of youths and prevent them from intimidating shoppers, residents and businesses. We're pleased a new order has been put in place, and look forward to continuing our work with the local community."

The orders will give police the powers to escort home young people under 16 years old, between 9pm and 6am, if they are unsupervised on the streets and either at risk from antisocial behaviour and crime, they can also remove and caution young people found in possession of alcohol or illegal substances.

Do you think of the dispersal orders are a good idea? Would you like to see more services dedicated to anti-social behaviour? Or do you think that there should be more facilities available for young people to keep themselves occupied over the summer months? Let us know...

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