Police officers in Southport town centre have been branded ‘heartless’ by shoppers in the resort after being seen to move on two homeless people from a makeshift camp near Bold Street.
The homeless couple who have been sleeping outside the former Status clothing shop on Lord Street for a number of weeks.
However today the pair were seen to be moved on by police officers who told them to vacate the area and gave them details of sit up homeless services.
However some shoppers say the move is heartless and officers should have left the pair to sleep in the doorway.
What is the law?
Officers can tell people to leave a certain area under Section 35 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.
Under the new Act, police have the power to disperse individuals or groups causing or likely to cause anti-social behaviour in public places or common areas of private land.
Police must also balance the individual’s right for lawful freedom of expression and freedom of assembly under Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights when authorising the powers.
How is it different to an ASBO?
The Act replaced the Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) which was used extensively by local authorities attempting to address problems associated with begging.
But under the new Act, there were a number of changes, including extending the exclusion time to 48 hours, allowing Police Community Support Officers to use the dispersal powers and there is now longer a requirement that two or more people need to be engaged in offending behaviour for the order to be made
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