Stratford councillors and police are planning a tough new crackdown with the on antisocial behaviour by introducing PSPOs in the centre of Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s birthplace and home to the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company.
Stratford District Council is consulting the public on introducing a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) which will give the police more powers to act. In addition, the town centre will benefit from more police patrols designed to crack down on antisocial activity and funded by the Home Office.
Stratford holding back a tsunami of misbehaviour
The moves are aimed at preventing a repeat of events last summer, when the town was struck by a tsunami of antisocial behaviour ‒ street drunks causing a nuisance, and perpetrators committing arson, vandalism, climbing onto car park roofs and throwing missiles at cars, carrying knives, fighting and urinating in public. The council condemned this behaviour as “detrimental, persistent and unreasonable to the area”.
A PSPO is a control measure created by the 2014 Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act to deal with specific nuisances or problems in a defined area that are “detrimental to the community’s quality of life” and are designed to tackle antisocial behaviour in public places.
Antisocial behaviour PSPO: protecting the community
Councillor Natalie Gist, portfolio holder for law and governance, including community safety, says: “The proposal to introduce this PSPO will provide additional powers to police officers to prevent alcohol-related antisocial behaviour from escalating.”
She continued: “This order will not prohibit the public from consuming alcohol in public. Nevertheless, it will allow the police to take steps to prevent harm to the community from those who are consuming or possessing alcohol and causing anti-social behaviour.”
The 2014 Act introduced PSPOs to protect the public from “behaviour that is having, or is likely to have, a detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in a locality and which is (or is likely to be) of a persistent or continuing nature, and unreasonable”. Councils can make PSPOs to ban specified activities, and/or to require certain things to be done by people engaged in particular activities, within a defined area.
Antisocial behaviour reports increasing
Stratford District Council say that over the last three years there has been an increasing number of reports from residents regarding alcohol-related antisocial behaviour in Stratford.
“We have held discussions with Warwickshire Police regarding the criminal and antisocial behaviour taking place in Stratford to look at the best way to tackle it,” they say. “From these discussions, the council believes a PSPO is an appropriate and necessary tool for local agencies to reduce incidents of those listed above.”
If approved, the order would mean that anywhere within Stratford town centre police officers could require a person to stop drinking alcohol and surrender whatever alcohol is left and any container for alcohol.
The council will also take into account the requirements under the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998 which includes the right to lawful assembly, and the right to freedom of expression.
Opposition to PSPOs
Since their introduction, the use of PSPOs has been strongly criticised by civil rights groups and legal professionals such as Liberty and the Manchester Law Centre because “there is clearly a risk of abuse of power”. There is unease among organisations in Stratford.
Jackie Lines of Street Arts Project, a community group supporting homeless and vulnerable people in the town says: “We have attended meetings with the police and explained they are in need of a drop-in centre where they could safely commune with their friends. They have no wish to gather on the streets. We are averse to any strategies that demonise or exclude this already vulnerable community and it is not wise to further incite negative community attitudes.” (Stratford Herald March 14, 2024, print version.)
Inspector Ben Hembrey of Warwickshire Police says: “Vulnerable people who choose to sit in our community should not be victimised or made more vulnerable because they don’t fit into the community. If they commit antisocial behaviour or other offences that impact other people then we should act.” (Stratford Herald March 14, 2024, print version.)
Stratford is among 18 areas in Warwickshire earmarked for the extra patrols, funded by a £1mn grant from the Home Office to tackle violence and disorder.
Not low-level crime
Philip Seccombe, Warwickshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner says: “antisocial behaviour is not low-level crime and needs a strong police and partner response to tackle it”.
He continues: “These additional high-visibility uniformed foot patrols result from pilots elsewhere which show they are effective at reducing crime and deterring anti-social behaviour. We hope to see similar results here in Warwickshire to underline the message that anti-social behaviour and violent disorder will not be tolerated.”
The model has been piloted in 10 areas of the country over the past six months, leading to nearly 600 arrests, 1,500 stop and searches and 700 uses of antisocial behaviour powers.
The extra patrols are set to begin in April, continuing for 12 months.
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