Hot Walls Dispersal Order extended over weekend

A Dispersal Order to combat anti-social behaviour in the Hot Walls area of Old Portsmouth, has been extended to run over this weekend.

This follows a public order incident at the Hot Walls yesterday afternoon, during which four teenagers were arrested for public order offences.

A fifth teenager has also been arrested in connection with the incident. The 15 year old from Southsea, was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a 20 year old man. He has been released under investigation.

The dispersal order gives a police officer the power to order a person to leave the area for a 48 hour period with no return. Refusal to comply with the order is a criminal offence.

The order was initially put in place to run for 48 hours to cover the location for Wednesday and Thursday of this week in anticipation of large groups congregating at Hot Walls due to the hot weather.

This was to combat anti-social behaviour and to protect public safety after an ongoing issue with people putting themselves at risk by jumping into the water from height and in an area of commercial ferry traffic.

The dispersal order has now been extended until late on Sunday (July 28) and Police and Portsmouth City Wardens will continue to patrol the area over the weekend. The MoD Police also continues to run launches in the water, actively patrolling alongside HM Coastguard.

Neighbourhood Inspector Marcus Cator said: “We have been aware of anti-social behaviour issues and concerns over public safety in terms of people jumping or tomb stoning into the water at that location over a long period of time.

“Police and partner agencies are already linked in together to tackle these issues and a lot of work has already taken place. This recurring seasonal challenge is a complex societal issue that can’t be solved by one agency alone.

“Hampshire Constabulary and Portsmouth City Council have been working in partnership with the Queens Harbour Master, MoD Police, the RNLI, Youth Offending Team, Councillors and agencies such as Motiv8 and Active Communities Network to try to mitigate the risks.

“This includes the improvement and extension of CCTV in the vicinity of Hot Walls, diversionary engagement and work with particular individuals, regular patrols by police officers and Portsmouth City Council wardens and where necessary, enforcement measures.

“We want to reassure the community that we do take these issues extremely seriously and we will continue to look at how we can make further improvements and carry out enforcement.”

The dispersal order, which has to be authorised by a police inspector, is made under the Anti Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 (Section 34).

Three young people arrested yesterday have all been released under investigation.

A 15 year old boy from Portsmouth was arrested on suspicion of using threatening words or behaviour.

A 15 year old girl from Portsmouth was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer.

A 13 year old boy from Portsmouth was also arrested for assaulting a police officer.

A fourth person, a 15 year old boy from Portsmouth was initially arrested for failing to give officers his details. He has since been de-arrested.

No serious injuries were reported.