Mildenhall dispersal order issued by police over anti-social behaviour for fourth time in a month
Police in Mildenhall have issued a dispersal order in the town centre for the fourth time in just over a month following ongoing anti-social behaviour problems.
In a post on Twitter this evening, officers said they would be out patrolling throughout the night after the anti-social behaviour.
Dispersal orders have been issued in Mildenhall on at least three other occasions over the last month, with the first on December 19, the next the following day and the third on January 5.
In an interview with Suffolk News earlier this month, a police inspector said action was being taken to deal with anti-social behaviour by a group of youths in the town, with incidents including unruly behaviour inside shops and climbing on business premises' roofs, causing damage to property.
At the time, Inspector Mark Shipton said: "We have been experiencing high levels of antisocial behaviour by a particular group of young people from the Mildenhall area, which has really risen over the last four to six weeks, mainly occurring during the evenings but over the Christmas holidays has now been going on during the day time."
Under section 35 of the Anti-Social Behaviour and Policing Act 2014, a dispersal order gives officers the authority to disperse individuals or groups where their presence or behaviour has resulted, or is likely to result in, a member of the public being harassed, intimidated, alarmed or distressed.
People can be excluded from a specified area for up to 48 hours and, if they refuse to follow police orders to disperse, they will be committing an offence which is punishable by up to six months in prison, a fine of up to £5000 or both.
The dispersal order is in place until 6.52pm on Saturday.