Dispersal order is an attack on freedom in Worthing

And here is follow-up piece from The Porkbolter which goes into a bit more detail.

THE CLOSER you look at the draconian dispersal order being imposed on the people of Worthing from Friday June 1, the worse it looks. The fundamental injustice of it all is that it gives police powers to harass people who have not committed any offence.

We all know that there are plenty of laws out there already that make it a crime to cause a public nuisance, threaten people, be drunk in public etc etc – presumably the kind of thing they ostensibly have in mind. If someone has committed such an offence then it is up to the police to arrest them and have them prosecuted in court where the case can be proven or not.

But the Section 30 order is clearly designed to do away with the troublesome need for someone to have committed any offence before they are punished by the authorities. The only proviso is that “a constable in uniform has reasonable grounds for believing that the presence or behaviour of a group of two or more persons in any public place in the relevant locality has resulted, or is likely to result, in any members of the public being intimidated, harassed, alarmed or distressed.”

There are some big get-out clauses here. “Reasonable grounds” for a start. What does that mean? How can that be clearly proven one way or the other? The reference to “presence or behaviour of a group” is also worrying. How can the mere ‘presence’ of people at a certain place constitute anti-social behaviour, unless they are behaving in such a way as to justify that accusation? This is akin to saying that certain types of people are simply not allowed to be in certain parts of town – a dangerous precdent!

Another key phrase is “has resulted, or is likely to result”. This sets out quite plainly that the cops are entitled to victimise people who haven’t actually done anything wrong “yet” – as long as they claim they have “reasonable grounds” for thinking they are probably going to do so! So if you and a friend are sitting on a park bench having a quiet chat but, for reasons of his own (and who can guess at the impenetrable workings of a cop’s brain?), a passing plod decides your mere presence in the park is likely to result in others being alarmed, you can be “directed” to go home or leave town. There is no right to appeal against this or defend yourself. The policeman’s opinion is effectively law.

If you decide to ignore the direction then you have breached the order and can be sent to prison or fined a huge amount of money. For what? For standing up against arbitrary interference in your life imposed without the due process of law as we have come to know it in this country.

Sussex Police are also being less than wholly truthful when they claim in their press release that the order “is not designed to create an exclusion zone or a curfew area”.

The legislation states: “If, between the hours of 9pm and 6am, a constable in uniform finds a person in any public place in the relevant locality who he has reasonable grounds for believing— (a)is under the age of 16, and (b)is not under the effective control of a parent or a responsible person aged 18 or over, he may remove the person to the person’s place of residence unless he has reasonable grounds for believing that the person would, if removed to that place, be likely to suffer significant harm.”

So that’s effectively a sort of 9pm curfew – at the discretion of the cops - for anyone under 16 in Worthing. Is that right and fair?

Why does Worthing need this particular law imposed on us?

Sussex Police did briefly engage with critics on Twitter this week, referring to an “interesting debate already”. It claimed it sought S30 zones “in response to local needs & only disperse if anti-social”. Under questioning, it added: “Local need to address ASB is identifed through partners & public meetings. S30 is just one tactic...” And: “Use is recorded (dispersal or enforcement). Success would be no ASB in area, then can remove S30.”

But, despite being directly asked, it has failed to answer why Worthing in particular needs this draconian order, which gives carte blance to its officers to harass those who have committed no offence, particularly young people. There were no riots in Worthing last summer. There is no Olympic games to protect from pesky protesters.

This looks like a sinister and unprovoked fascistic attack on the liberties of the people of Worthing – and some of us are not prepared to let it go ahead unopposed!