Police powers ramped up in Southampton city centre to crack down on antisocial behaviour

Police powers have been ramped up in Southampton city centre to crack down on antisocial behaviour.

A dispersal order has been put in place in Bargate in the area shown in red on the map due to increased reports of young people causing ASB in the Cossak Green area and its surroundings.

This gives us the power to make those involved in anti-social behaviour leave the area or they will be arrested.

It also allows us to seize anything used to commit this behaviour.

It was put in place at 3pm yesterday (29 June) and will run until 23.59pm tonight.

Inspector Charlie Ilderton from the Southampton Central Neighbourhood Policing Team said: “Following the reports we were receiving from members of the public and the information our officers were aware of, we authorised the dispersal order to prevent antisocial behaviour in the area from escalating.

“Since the order was put in place, officers have been engaging with young people, which has meant that no-one has had to be dispersed from the area so far.

“We will continue to patrol the area and use these powers if we need to, and will extend the order if the issues flare up again.

“Hopefully our use of this order reassures the public that we are being proactive when it comes to tackling antisocial behaviour and highlights the importance of you reporting incidents to us so we can take action.

“We continue to work with our partners to come up with long term solutions to reducing antisocial behaviour, which requires a joint effort.”

To report antisocial behaviour in your neighbourhood please call us on 101 or report on our website.