Businesses want resort yob crackdown

A leading business pressure group is urging constabularies policing coastal resorts to follow the example of Devon and Cornwall Police, which announced this week it has secured three dispersal orders to crackdown on resort yobs this summer.

The Forum of Private Business (FPB) launched a campaign earlier this year calling on police forces covering coastal towns to use dispersal orders this season to control anti social behaviour after they were used successfully in Bournemouth last year.

The FPB, which represents 25,000 small to medium-sized firms across the UK, 10 per cent of which are in a coastal town, said businesses should work with police forces to identify yob hot spots where dispersal orders could be enforced.

"It is tremendous news that Devon and Cornwall Police has secured three dispersal orders for coastal towns,' said the FPB's Chief Executive Nick Goulding. "The FPB has found overwhelming support from our coastal town members for a hard line to be taken by police in controlling drink-related violence and bad behaviour this summer. Drink-related crime is a grave and real problem in seaside towns and harms smaller business interests. Police have told us it helps build a case for a dispersal order if businesses tell them about trouble spots and keep a log of incidents. With the holiday season just weeks away, it is critical the resorts are properly prepared to cope with the sudden influx of visitors and late night boozing. The resorts are great places to have fun, but the police must have the towns under control so business interests - and the town's reputation - are not undermined by yobs, most of whom do not even come from the area. Shops, restaurants and hotels need public order if they are to flourish.

"Dispersal orders can be particularly effective in providing a shield for high streets - protecting shop fronts from damage. They have also proved effective in dealing with crowds at closing time, which is a notoriously dangerous period. While dispersal orders may not be the long-term solution to problems, they can make a difference."