City Beat: Closure orders to tackle anti-social behaviour
Anti-social behaviour (ASB) is an issue I know local people are keen that police address – it is a priority in one way or another for all our neighbourhood policing teams, writes Superintendent Ben Martin.
When ASB can be linked to a specific address and begins to seriously affect the wider community, one effective tool can be closure orders. We don’t use them lightly, but when ongoing nuisance, drug dealing or disorder from one location is having a clear and harmful impact on neighbours, decisive action is needed.
A closure order allows police and partners to restrict access to a property for a set period, immediately disrupting the behaviour causing concern. This can be particularly important where there is an increased risk of disorder or where residents nearby are being made to feel unsafe in their own homes.
Recent examples include in Wayside Crescent, Hampton Vale, and in Lincoln Road, following persistent drug-related activity linked to the addresses. Local people were understandably frustrated by what they were seeing, and these closure orders helped to bring rapid relief while longer‑term solutions were put in place.
There is sometimes an argument that closure orders simply move the problem elsewhere. In reality, enforcement is often combined with support for those involved, delivered through a multi‑agency approach. What I like about Closure Orders is that they are quick, disruptive and focused — and most importantly, they help restore confidence and make communities feel safer.
I recently attended a significant community meeting in Millfield with residents and partner agencies.
The event was organised by the charity Redeeming Our Communities (ROC) and looked at ways of working together to improve the local area, as well as celebrating some of the excellent work that is ongoing.
It was very well attended, and it was great to meet local people and hear from key stakeholders. It will be interesting to see how this work develops over the next couple of years and the positive change it can make.
If you’d like to be kept up to date with local policing you can visit our website , sign up to eCops or follow our Policing Peterborough Facebook page.
Followers of the Facebook page may like to look out for a new monthly campaign where we publish CCTV images of people we’d like to speak to in connection with retail crime and other offences. The first edition in February produced some positive results, so I look forward to seeing how this develops.