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TEEN DEALERS BANNED FROM BARNSBURY
Police make leafy area no-go zone for youths after complaints
POLICE have been granted special powers to “move on” teenagers caught hanging around one of the leafiest corners of the borough.
Barnsbury may be more well-known for its bookshops and restaurants but ward councillors claim there has been an ongoing problem with anti-social and criminal behaviour in the area.
Officers are now reaching for tough powers usually reserved for areas of the capital prone to drug dealing and violence.
A “dispersal order” will cloak Milner Square, Morland Mews, and Gibson and Lonsdale Squares throughout the school summer holidays. Youngsters found loitering in groups inside the police zone can be instantly banned from the area for 24 hours.
Joe Spikesley, who lives in Morland Mews, said groups of up to 40 youths cause nuisance.
He believes many of them have been moved on from other areas where dispersal zones are already in place – such as Finsbury Park.
“They get up here about 8pm and go on right through to 3am or 4am,” said Mr Spikesley. “We’ve got a football pitch and they kick the ball up against the fence until the early hours. It echoes around the street.”
He said residents have seen children stashing drugs in the wheel arches of cars so the police cannot find them, and substances dealing to passing cars.
Mr Spikesley said one neighbour had been forced to move into sheltered housing because the abuse became too much for her.
Mother-of-three and foster carer Christine Dixon, who also lives in Morland Mews, said: “I know we all get fed up with it but where else is there for them to go? I don’t think they’re all bad kids but once people see a group they automatically think it means trouble.”
Officers from Barnsbury Safer Neighbourhoods team will be patrolling the area.
Islington Council youth workers and Islington’s Safer Schools PCSO will work alongside police to provide support for the young people – directing them to the nearby activities, youth centres such as the White Lion Centre, and if necessary, professional help.
Police say they have received reports of groups of up to 40 youths congregating in the streets, intimidating residents, using and dealing drugs, and causing criminal damage.
Adult drug dealers are also believed to have been preying on them.
St Mary’s ward Lib Dem councillor James Kempton said: “Local people have been complaining to the police about the criminal and anti-social behaviour of large groups of young people fighting, stealing, and causing criminal damage. We fully support the police in trying to tackle this problem, whatever it takes. Those children are also at risk of being drawn into even more serious crimes by unscrupulous adult drug dealers.” |
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Your comments:
THE lady who went into sheltered housing might find she lives next door to a dealer as reports from areas of this are known, this is the particular way of putting general needs apllicants into sheltered housing to negate thye disgust the genuine residents have.
T. McNabb
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