TROUBLE makers will find it harder to congregate in a town after police were given powers to ban them from a wide area. From Monday, officers in Hitchin will be able to move on people causing problems in the town, after North Herts District Council grante
TROUBLE makers will find it harder to congregate in a town after police were given powers to ban them from a wide area.
From Monday, officers in Hitchin will be able to move on people causing problems in the town, after North Herts District Council granted a six month dispersal order.
Anyone involved in anti-social behaviour in a zone that reaches from the railway station to The Priory - taking in Windmill Hill and the historic town centre - can now be forced to leave the area. If they return within 24 hours they will be arrested.
Inspector Simon Tabert of the Hitchin neighbourhood team said: "For some time now our policing partners and members of the public have been concerned about anti-social behaviour in certain parts of Hitchin. This order will prove a useful tool to tackle groups of people who misbehave. These orders have proved extremely successful in other parts of the country and I am confident it will work in Hitchin.
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