Youth criminal damage prompts dispersal order
Getty ImagesYouths damaging buses, taxis and council houses, mainly by throwing objects through windows, have led police to impose a dispersal order preventing them entering the area.
Criminal damage and antisocial behaviour has been reported in the Berwick Hills area of Middlesbrough.
Residents have raised concerns on social media that the order could push the problem to a different area and questioned whether it was being enforced, saying a large group of youths had still been seen near the local shops.
Cleveland Police said it had issued three dispersal notices and the order had been put in place to "help prevent further incidents and help reassure the local community that action is being taken".
The order was put in place for 48 hours which is the maximum permitted, although another can be issued subsequently.
It means any groups entering the Berwick Hills area can be asked to leave and could be arrested if they return.
Cleveland PolicePeople commenting on a Facebook post by a local councillor said they were sceptical the order would be effective with one saying there was "little value in dispersal orders if they are not enforced".
Some saying they had been victims of criminal damage said their experience with the police had only ever resulted in an incident number to pass on for insurance.
Another said they thought "someone will have to die before it's taken seriously".
The force said: "Following the implementation of the dispersal order, officers in the area attended a report of a gathering of youths and issued dispersal notices to three youths who were returned home."
Officers would continue to patrol the area and people could contact them if they had concerns, it said.
The dispersal order area is bounded by Ormesby Road, Howgill Walk, Greenhow Road, Westerdale Road, Bransdale Road, Gilling Walk, Crossfell Road and Penrith Road, across Morrisons car park and to Ormesby Road.
It also includes the Neptune Centre and Norfolk Place shops.
