Police have imposed a dispersal zone across part of Blackfen after groups of young people threw eggs and masonry at cars and shops, leaving vehicles damaged and businesses disrupted.
The order, which came into force at 3pm on Thursday 23 October and runs until 3pm on Sunday, covers every road bounded by Blackfen Road, Days Lane, Oaklands Avenue, Collindale Avenue, Rowley Avenue and Harcourt Avenue.
Officers say recent incidents in the area have seen projectiles – including bricks or chunks of masonry, as well as eggs – aimed at passing vehicles and local businesses, causing damage and disruption to drivers and shopkeepers.
The Section 35 order was authorised by Inspector Gareth Evans. “This decision follows ongoing concerns regarding anti-social behaviour and low-level criminality involving groups of youths in the area,” he said.
Under the order, officers can direct anyone to leave the area if their presence is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress, or to prevent further disorder. Anyone who refuses to leave when ordered, or returns within the period set by officers, can be arrested.
What a Section 35 order means on the ground
Section 35 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 gives uniformed officers the power to exclude someone from a specified area for up to 48 hours. It is used where members of the public have been harassed, alarmed or distressed by the behaviour of others, and the order is necessary to cut crime and disorder.
Officers do not need to wait for an offence to be committed first: they can act on behaviour that is likely to contribute to anti-social behaviour. Failing to comply with a direction to leave is a criminal offence and can lead to a fine or imprisonment.
Police forces across London use dispersal zones as a rapid-response tool when youth disorder flares up in a particular area – often around half-term evenings, as here, when groups of young people gather in larger numbers.
Impact on Blackfen
Blackfen is a residential suburb on the border of Bexley and Bromley, its parade of shops along Blackfen Road serving as the local high street. Traders there, like drivers passing through, have had to deal with the fallout of the recent incidents – repair bills, broken windscreens and the unease of not knowing when the next missile might be thrown.
Residents who live within the zone are not affected by the order in the same way as people gathering to cause trouble: police say the power is targeted at individuals whose behaviour is contributing, or likely to contribute, to disorder. Officers will be stepping up patrols in the area over the weekend.
Enforcement context
The order is the latest example of the Met using short, sharp enforcement powers to grip anti-social behaviour in London’s outer boroughs. Earlier this week, officers dismantled a blank-firing gun conversion network operating across the capital (read the full story), while in Canning Town police and Newham Council evacuated hundreds of households from three tower blocks amid structural safety fears – a reminder of the range of demands on London’s frontline officers.
Serious violence and weapons offences remain the force’s priority, as the recent sentencing of a killer in Ealing shows (full report) – but police say low-level disorder like that seen in Blackfen is exactly the sort of behaviour that makes residents feel unsafe in their own neighbourhoods, and that it will be dealt with firmly.
Anyone with information about the recent incidents in Blackfen is asked to contact police on 101, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
