Anti-social Behaviour
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of policing powers in addressing incidents involving involving large and spontaneously formed groups engaged in anti-social behaviour and criminality impacting local communities and retailers, where individual responsibility is difficult to establish; and what steps her Department is taking to improve (a) enforcement and (b) accountability.
Answered by Sarah Jones
In the UK people are free to gather and protest, provided this remains lawful. Where groups engage in unlawful behaviour, including actions that are violent or cause harassment, alarm, or distress to others, the police have powers to respond. The use of these powers are an operational matter for the police. The Public Order Act 1986 grants police powers to manage protests to protect the public from serious disruption or harm while safeguarding the right to peaceful protest.
The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police, local authorities and other local agencies with a range of tools and powers that they can use to respond to anti-social behaviour. The powers in the 2014 Act are deliberately local in nature, and it is for local agencies to determine whether their use is appropriate in the specific circumstances.
Local authorities can issue Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPO) to place restrictions in a specified area where the behaviour has had or is likely to have a detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in the locality, is persistent or continuing and is unreasonable. Police are also able to issue dispersal directions for up to 48 hours to direct individuals to leave a specified area if the police are satisfied on reasonable grounds that their behaviour is contributing or likely to contribute to members of the public being harassed, alarmed or distressed, or the occurrence of crime and disorder.
Shop theft and violence towards shop workers is unacceptable, and we must protect those hard working and dedicating staff. That is why, through our Crime and Policing Act, we have introduced a new specific standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker. This bespoke offence will send a clear signal to perpetrators that assaults on retail workers are unacceptable and won’t go unpunished.
We are also strengthening the powers available to the police and other local agencies through the Crime and Policing Act. This includes increasing the upper limit for fixed penalty notices for breaches of PSPOs from £100 to £500, increasing the time a dispersal direction can be implemented for from 48 to 72 hours and introducing Respect Orders which will give local agencies stronger enforcement capability to tackle the most relentless adult ASB offenders.
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