Children banned from streets of Bangor at night

[Poulay]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-18469957

The dispersal order says: "If you are under 16 you are not allowed to be here between the hours of 9pm and 6am unless you are under the effective control of a parent or responsible person over the age of 18.

"You may be removed to your home or place of safety if more appropriate."

It will remain in place for six months in a bid to help tackle anti-social behaviour such as groups congregating to drink or members of the public being "harassed, intimidated, alarmed or distressed".

Officers will also be able to order groups of two or more people to disperse.

"Civil liberties group Big Brother Watch called the order madness and likened it to "North Korea, not north Wales"."

I can see some of our older cadets and scouts who walk home at 9 being impressed with that.

What reason is there for under 16s to be wandering round the city centre at night anyway? They should be at home.

buntingbunny But if they're clearly walking somewhere with a purpose, then presumably this curfew won't apply. I presume this is aimed at groups of teens congregating (and being "antisocial")
Not sure what I think about that, actually.

from 9 is madness! could understand 10.30

we do live in a free country don't we??

Giving all 15 year olds a 9pm curfew is not what I'd expect in a free country. Horribly big brotherish.

The police are claiming that it's not a blanket ban, it's an order which then gives them the right to exercise it if kids are being a nuisance.

Precisely what the difference is between kids that are being a nuisance and kids that the Police don't like the face of isn't entirely clear. . And this is Bangor ffs. Not the Bronx.

They did this once where I live, the only problems in the area were teenagers damaging hanging baskets, so not exactly the Bronx.

My DD aged 15 walked from the youth club to the shop to buy some tampax and got stopped by the police. I received a letter stating she was in breach of an order and was receiving a warning.

I told them what I thought of that. Surely it is an infringement of civil rights. DD has never been in any trouble or caused any nuisance.

That does seem early. My dd is out 3 times a week after 9pm for clubs.

If they want to target troublemakers then target troublemakers.
This sort of thing is ridiculous, I think it's really bad.
And it's not as if 16 yo and over don't cause any trouble

I grew up in Bangor. Quite a lot of my friends won't go out there at night now, because gangs of 11-14 year olds get hammered, intimidate and attack people. :(
However, the effort of the people who've pushed for this would be better aimed at actually creating something for these kids to do. There is NOTHING for them.

How utterly shit

Also in this quiet seaside town in Sussex: Worthing dispersal order granted

and here

It is the thin end of the wedge... Coming to a very small, very quiet town near you soon...

Seems the press and the law alike have short memories. I remember a teen boy from Richmond, London fighting such a curfew law successfully in 2005/6. According to this page
www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/human-rights/discrimination/young-people/curfews/index.php

"In 2005 Liberty lawyers acted for 'W', a 15-year-old boy from Richmond who successfully challenged the legality of curfews for under-16s. The following year the Court of Appeal dealt a severe blow to curfew powers when it ruled that the police only have the power to use force to remove children who are involved in, or at risk from, actual or imminently anticipated bad behaviour"

Bloody hell, Ethel!

So it's all right to be ageist but not racist twofingerstoGideon?.

Same thing applies, if they want to blanket ban and punish all because a lot of under 16 cause trouble then why not by the same merit apply such rules to black people or boys etc?.

It's all lazy policing there has been crime since the dawn of time and there all ways will be the answer is police on the streets not blanket fascist bans on everything.

I live in an area with a no drinking in the street ban, there is a massive difference between someone having a frosty beer on a hot day and a group of drunks starting trouble, we need the police on the streets to do their job not fascist controls that alienate everyone and cause resentment/distrust and ultimately unrest.

Eh? Of course it's not okay to be ageist. Whoever said it was? (baffled...)

omg that was deleted!

So you can't even make the point that if this situation was a racial one then it wouldn't be tolerated.

bad form mn. bad form who ever reported me if you did.

On a related note here's an article from 2008 about young people being arrested and charged under the Terrorism Act (!) for under-age drinking.

This just shows how laws can can easily be misused - especially if there are targets to be hit.

"The Act was brought out for terrorism but it suits us very nicely,' said Insp Neil Mutch of South Yorkshire Police." Tosser.

@Purity you have spectacuarly missed the point. to the point of almost being deliberate.

I grew up hearing the gun shots on murder mile and have worked with black disadvantaged youths, so don't preach at me.

plus i think you think i was being racist, not xenophobic.

Of course black men are responsible for terrible crimes in east London.

Anyone who says that no black men commit terrible crimes is beyond stupidity.

The following statements are all true:

'black men commit terrible crimes in east London'
'white men commit terrible crimes in east London'
'children commit terrible crimes in east London'

The following statements are also true:

'black men commit terrible crimes in east London, but they wouldn't dare impose a curfew on black men in east London'

'children commit crimes in Bangor, but they have imposed a curfew on children in Bangor'

No one group commits all crime, and while certain groups commit disproportionately more crime, discriminatory restrictions on those specific groups are normally not considered acceptable in the UK.

@Poulay exactly, thank you. I thought I had slipped through a worm hole into thickoville.

should i ask mn to reinstate my post? i'm quite cross about it now tbh. its so bloody high and mighty and just plain thick a response.