CATFORD DISPERSAL ORDER ALLOWS OFFICERS TO TACKLE WEEKEND CRIME

Lewisham officers were out around the Rushey Green and Catford area with the support of a section 35 dispersal order in place. 

This dispersal order was approved by Police Inspector Duncan Jackson after a review that saw the weekends as a high priority for police presence during the evening. The dispersal is mapped in a specific zone police inspectors consider are high focused areas of crime and disorder, allowing police officers to remove individuals being anti-social from the zoned area. The dispersal order lasted 3 days starting at 4pm Friday 14th November and ending at 4pm Sunday 16th November. 

Officers on the frontline were challenged with several incidents and challenges in the area. On the Friday night, police officers saw most people intoxicated and acting disorderly, loitering in alleyways smoking cannabis and drinking with open containers in the front of local businesses entrances making the place look intimidating and uninviting. 

We spoke to one officer working that night who said “Dealing with people who are drunk and disorderly is challenging. You can describe something over and over, but they are too intoxicated to understand”. Residents have also voiced their concerns, some saying they take different routes purposely to avoid certain bits of Catford and others saying they watch their back when travelling home from work late at night.

On the Saturday night, the focus turned to be more focused around weapons and drugs in the area. One incident involved a group of youths who had fled from police officers ditching drugs. Officers managed to detain the youths, recovering and seizing the drugs in the process. During searches of these youths, a couple were found to be in their early teens, out late at night carrying drugs. 

Police working the Saturday had seen the mood change in the area the later it had gotten in the night, one officer describing how the area had switched in an instant and began to feel dangerous. Vagrants, drug users, intoxicated individuals and people loitering were dispersed out of back alleys and street corners and removed from Catford for the Weekend. Although the dispersal order was temporary, this operation helped police find problems they may have missed in the past, allowing them to tackle the areas toughest problems. 

Police deployed on the final night the section 35 was in place, on the Sunday. Catford was emptier than usual, maybe due to the time of day and it being a Sunday or shops being closed but also due to the intense police presence in the area. Officers were still successful in finding people in possession of drugs as well as a hunt for a group of individuals travelling around stealing phones. 

Due to the success of the weekend dispersal and the police presence during the weekend, police inspectors re-issued the section 35 for the following weekend. Police officers around Rushey Green and Catford continue to tackle violence and anti-social behaviour in the area.