8:10am Wednesday 2nd May 2007
ANYONE who looks under the age of 16 can be taken home in a police car if they are out after 9pm in a troubled part of Swindon.
The new curfew is part of a long-awaited dispersal order that has been brought in for the Welcombe Avenue area of Park North.
Residents have welcomed the police action and say yobs have made their lives hell in recent months.
The police say the dispersal order will be strongly enforced and they are determined to make life better for the under-siege locals.
PC Billy O'Sullivan, Parks and Walcot community beat manager, said: "It's a reaction to the high levels of abuse and intimidation deterring members of the public from using Welcombe Stores and from visiting the area."
The order means police can move in on any groups of two or more people believed to be causing or likely to cause trouble.
"There's a definite intention from me to have this policed robustly," PC O'Sullivan said.
"Offenders will be arrested and dealt with in as strong as possible terms that the law allows.
"The residents have been subjected to this anti-social behaviour and they deserve a break from it."
Officers also have the added power of being able to take home anyone reasonably believed to be under the age of 16' who is in the area between 9pm and 6am without a parent or responsible adult.
PC O'Sullivan said: "It's a very useful tool because a good proportion of the individuals are under the age of 16 and this is a powerful piece of legislation that allows us to remove them and take them home to their parents, who will then be made very aware of the circumstances in which their child has been returned home."
The order, which has been set up by the Neighbourhood Policing Team and the council, will run for six months until October 31.
Alicja Bolton, 63, of Welcombe Avenue, said: "We have been waiting for the dispersal order for a long, long time.
"We welcome it because we have had nothing but trouble and vandalism.
"We get between 30 and 40 kids hanging around and it's horrendous. They give you abuse and there's graffiti everywhere.
"It's just horrendous night after night."
Reg Patterson, 69, of Welcombe Avenue, said: "We are pleased it's in force. We watched them putting up the notices, but of course the proof of the pudding is in the eating so we will have to wait and see what develops.
"I am glad to see something is being done at last though."
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