A SPECIAL order to allow police to disperse groups of people engaging in anti-social behaviour has been put in place in Oxford.

Thames Valley Police is putting a Section 35 dispersal order in place from 6pm on Friday (December 9) and it was last for 48 hours.

Section 35 dispersal powers can be used by police officers and designated PCSOs to deal with 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 in a locality.

READ MORE: Teacher avoids ban after 'hitting and pushing' pupils heads

This can include dispersal of groups of people.

This is due to increased levels of of anti-social behaviour of large groups of people within Oxford being reported.

The order will cover Brewer Street, Paradise Street, St Thomas Street, Hythe Bridge Street, Beaumont Street, Turl Street and St Aldates.

Oxford Neighbourhood Inspector Neil Bouse, based at St Aldates police station, said: “Last weekend saw a gathering of around 30 people in the city centre, which resulted in some minor disorder in Bonn Square.

“Anti-social gatherings such as these can cause distress and be intimidating to residents and visitors.

READ MORE: UK’s fastest-growing pizza takeaway chain coming to Oxfordshire town

“Therefore, we are putting in place this dispersal order to prevent this level of disorder from occurring, and ensuring residents and visitors of all ages feel safe when in the city.”

-

Read more from this author

This story was written by Gee Harland. She joined the team in 2022 as a senior multimedia reporter.

Gee covers Wallingford, Wantage and Didcot.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Gee.harland@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @Geeharland

A message from our Editor

Thank you for reading this story and supporting the Oxford Mail.

If you like what we do please consider getting a subscription for the Oxford Mail and in return we’ll give you unrestricted access with less adverts across our website from the latest news, investigations, features, and sport.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok for more. 

You can also join the conversation in our Facebook groups: stay ahead of traffic alerts here, keep up to date with the latest from court here, share your favourite memories of Oxford here, get your daily dose of celebrity news here and take some time out with news that will make you smile. 

If you’ve got a story for our reporters, send us your news here. You can also list an event for free here.