Flickr/West Midlands Police. Some rights reserved.A little-noticed part of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act, passed last October, has given the police a roaming power to bar people from public spaces.
“Dispersal orders” are an extension of previous powers, but the key difference is that they can now be applied in any place, at any time. Previously, areas had to be declared dispersal zones in advance, after a relatively lengthy consultation process. Now any area can be declared a dispersal zone on the spot: a police officer need only gain authorisation from his or her inspector over the phone.
Once an area has been activated as a “dispersal zone” – sometimes an area as large as Liverpool city centre – police officers can then bar individuals from the area for 48 hours. The only condition is that they “suspect” that a person’s behaviour “is likely to contribute” to causing “harassment, alarm or distress”.
