Has the crackdown on crime gone too far?

Crime reporter John Scheerhout looks at GMP's recent use of dispersal orders in the region

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DISPERSAL orders have been around for a decade but, in Greater Manchester at least, it is a tactic that wasn't used very much.

All that changed after Stephen Watson was installed as Chief Constable in 2021.

His stated mission was to turn around a failing police force.

Since then, as part of his 'back to basics' manifesto, he has overseen the doubling of the number of arrests and championed a fourfold rise in the number of stop search encounters. "It's called police work- it's what we should do," the Chief more frequently, but they are also Constable said using them to cover bigger and bigger geographical areas.

A central plank of his plan was, and is, an increasing use of dispersal orders which were introduced as part of the 2014 Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act.

It gave police powers to direct people suspected of causing trouble away from a specified area for up to 48 hours. Anyone who refuses can be arrested and risks a conviction, fine or even three months in prison.

To their critics, they are an indiscriminate 'blunt' weapon which can criminalise innocent, often young, people but for GMP bosses these days, they are a powerful tool to quell trouble before it happens.

Not only are GMP using this tactic On December 3, a dispersal order was signed which covered the whole of Bolton town centre.