Dispersal orders (Section 30's)

What does this mean?

Section 30-36 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 gives police and PCSO’s in England and Wales the power to:

Disperse (move on or separate) groups of two or more young people from areas where there is persistent anti-social behaviour.

  • Take home any young person under 16 who is out on the streets in a dispersal zone between 9pm and 6am and who is not accompanied by a responsible adult.

How would I know if there was a dispersal order in my area?

The police work with Wigan Council to decide if it’s a good idea to have a dispersal order in an area. This would be most likely to happen if there had been lots of anti-social behaviour in an area recently.

If there is a dispersal order in your area, a notice must be displayed in an obvious place or published in a local newspaper.

The dispersal order usually lasts for a limited time period, not more than 6 months.

What if the police ask me to move and I refuse?

This could be treated as an offence and you could be convicted. If this happened you could be fined or issued with a term in prison of not more than three months.

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