Officers are enforcing a dispersal order in a County Durham town this weekend to deal with large gatherings of youths from outside the area who are causing anti-social behaviour

The order, allowing police to move on people who are misbehaving, has been imposed on Stanley town centre after reports of troublemakers congregating in the area. 

In a Facebook post a post Durham Police said: “There have been large gatherings of youths in the general vicinity of Stanley town centre and its surrounding area, these groups have been coming from outside the Stanley area to gather.

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The Northern Echo: Area of the dispersal order in StanleyArea of the dispersal order in Stanley (Image: Durham Police)

“These groups have been causing Anti-Social Behaviour and Criminal Offences in the local area.

“As a consequence, officers will be focusing their attention on Stanley town centre. To support this, a dispersal notice has been put in place, running from 18:30 on Saturday 23rd September until 18:30 on Monday 25th September.

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“The grounds for this are to engage with any person(s) who are behaving in such a way as to harass, alarm or distress the wider community and prevent the occurrence of crime and disorder.

“This power will allow an officer to direct a person behaving in such a way to leave the identified area."