Police authorised a “Section 35” dispersal order in the Ferndale area of Brixton yesterday. The order expires at 1pm today (16 June).
The local Metropolitan police safer neighbourhood team said several people were “dispersed from the area” due to anti-social behaviour and officers patrolled the ward yesterday afternoon and evening.
Police said there had been “persistent complaints of crime and anti-social behaviour” in the area.
Section 35 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 gives a police constable and a police community support officer in uniform the power to exclude a person from an area for a period of up to 48 hours with a police inspector’s authority.
The officer must have reasonable grounds to suspect that the behaviour of the person has or is likely to contribute to people locally being being “harassed, alarmed or distressed”, or the occurrence in the locality of crime or disorder.
Section 35 dispersal powers can be used against individuals aged 10 or over engaging in anti-social behaviour or crime and disorder “not only when they have occurred or are occurring, but when they are likely to occur”.
