Police get new powers to evict anti-social residents from their own homes

UK Daily Mail
Wednesday May 16, 2007 

Police are to get tough new powers to evict anti-social residents and board up their properties, Home Secretary John Reid is to announce.

Officers in England and Wales will be allowed to temporarily throw out nuisance neighbours, whether they are council tenants, private renters or even own the properties.

The dramatic new powers - which the Home Office said would only be used as a last resort - are based on measures already in force to tackle crack houses and other drug dens.

Mr Reid will also announce the Government has reached its target to recruit 16,000 police community support officers (CSOs) by April this year.

A Home Office spokeswoman said 10,000 had been recruited in the last year alone.

The target for the number of CSOs was originally 24,000 but was scaled back after senior police officers said they would not need so many to deliver the Government's neighbourhood policing projects.

The new closure powers already operate in Scotland where they are regarded as a success, the Home Office spokeswoman said.

Mr Reid is expected to confirm the new powers will be introduced shortly in the new criminal justice Bill.

They will allow officers to serve a notice on a resident that within 48 hours all people who do not reside at an address will be barred.

In extreme cases, the resident will also be banned from the property.

The orders, if backed by a court, can last up to 12 weeks, with a further extension of 12 weeks also available in the most serious cases.

The spokeswoman said: "The Home Secretary will announce new powers for the police to provide them with the tools they need to deliver a modern policing service for the 21st century.

"These include widening existing powers to temporarily close and seal premises at the centre of significant and persistent anti-social behaviour, such as excessive noise, rowdy behaviour or where residents threaten their neighbours around the clock.

"This is a very powerful tool and will only be used as a last resort, where other multi-agency interventions have been used but have failed to stop the anti-social behaviour."

She added: "Used with the proper safeguards in place this will send out a powerful message that communities should not and will not be expected to tolerate anti-social behaviour."

On reaching the 16,000 target for CSOs, Mr Reid is expected to say: "I am extremely proud of the joint working which has enabled us to reach this target, which will strengthen the policing staff's ability to meet the needs of the local community.

"This marks an important milestone on the way to achieving our commitment to introduce neighbourhood policing teams in every community in England and Wales by 2008."

Some sections of the police have opposed the introduction of CSOs - civilian wardens who have some quasi-police powers but do not possess the power of arrest.

When they were introduced by former home secretary David Blunkett five years ago, some police officers described CSOs as "Blunkett's bouncers", "plastic policemen" and, later, "yellow-clad numpties".

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