Councils and police criticised on dispersal orders
28 Jun 06
First Minister condemns "inexcusable" failure to tackle antisocial behaviour
The First Minister, Jack McConnell, described as "inexcusable" yesterday the failure by councils and police forces to make greater use of their powers to tackle antisocial behaviour.
Since the powers were introduced under the Antisocial Behaviour Act of 2004, only four out of eight police forces in Scotland have imposed dispersal orders for breaking up unruly crowds, and only five out of 32 local authorities have sought orders against individuals or in respect of particular premises.
Mr McConnell described the situation as shocking and challenged "anybody in Scotland to say to me that there are not parts of their area that would benefit from a dispersal order or a closure order or the many other measures that we put in place".
He said he did not wish to interfere in police operational matters, but warned that if the legislation was not implemented at local level the time might come to revisit the subject.
Police and council leaders stressed that the measures in the Act were a last resort and that other powers were being used locally to tackle antisocial behaviour issues. There was no quota of orders that should be achieved.