Crackdown on tearaway teens

New police powers used against youths in bid to curb rise in anti-social behaviour

NEW hard-hitting police powers are being used in South Devon to crack down on organised gangs of youths reputed to be carrying knives and Tasers.

The gans are said to have been active in Torbay and Newton Abbot.

Special gang injunctions were imposed on seven teenagers when they appeared at Plymouth Magistrates’ Court.

The various conditions of the injunction include giving police the power to arrest the youths if they make threats in groups of three or more over social media, by phone or text messages.

It is understood to be one of the first times Devon and Cornwall Police has applied for gang injunction.

Police have said they fear ‘well-organised and structured’ gangs of teenagers are being manipulated by drug dealers ‘higher up the line’, who are making the gangs of boys and some girls sell drugs.

And there are fears that other, younger siblings are also being recruited into the gangs.

NEW hard-hitting police powers are being used in South Devon to crack down on organised gangs of youths reputed to be carrying knives and Tasers.

The gans are said to have been active in Torbay and Newton Abbot.

Special gang injunctions were imposed on seven teenagers when they appeared at Plymouth Magistrates’ Court.

The various conditions of the injunction include giving police the power to arrest the youths if they make threats in groups of three or more over social media, by phone or text messages.

It is understood to be one of the first times Devon and Cornwall Police have applied for gang injunction.

Police have said they fear ‘well-organised and structured’ gangs of teenagers are being manipulated by drug dealers ‘higher up the line’, who are making the gangs of boys and some girls sell drugs.

And there are fears that other, younger siblings are also being recruited into the gangs.

The gang injunctions were imposed on seven youths aged 14 to 17. They are all from South Devon and Torbay.

Police believe they are split into two gangs who meet in Newton Abbot, but have also been known to go out into wider areas.

Some of the youths have been excluded for 12 months from the following areas of Newton Abbot: Asda and its car park in the town centre, Victoria Gardens and the Market Walk shopping centre.

Other teens were told they cannot go into any area of Newton Abbot.

Devon and Cornwall Police has been given the power to arrest any of the youths who break the injunctions.

Some of the youths are banned from associating with a larger number of named teenagers under penalty of arrest, and they also cannot issue threats over social media in groups of three or more.

The gang members also face arrest for anti-social behaviour or harassment and are banned from covering their faces in a public place.

In a report to Kingsteignton town council earlier this year, PC Graham Derbyshire said: “With regards to the gangs going around Newton Abbot and Kingsteignton, we have recently got some more powers of arrest to deal with these youths with more conditions. The group has spilt into smaller groups and gone into other areas. The smaller groups get into the larger groups behind the leaders. There are two main groups with two leaders.”

PC Derbyshire, the neighbourhood beat policeman, said some of the youths used Newton Abbot as a meeting place and then go off to other areas.

He told the public meeting of the town council that some of the teenagers were carrying knives and Tasers.

He also said some were involved in cannabis. He added: “There are probably more youths getting recruited who could be siblings of the group and friends.”

Last year there was a large scale fight on The Den in Teignmouth involving around 30 15- to 17-year-olds.

Police said at the time: “Five were arrested. Four were taken home and one taken was taken into custody for a public order offence.”

Last year Newton Abbot police posted on Facebook that they had used a Section 35 order on a group of youths: “The local policing team received several reports of anti-social behaviour, crime and assaults from a group of youths in the Kingsteignton area.

The group was located and dispersed to their homes using legislation under the Anti-social Behaviour and Crime Act 2014.”