Boy, 14, banned from Doncaster village under antisocial behaviour ruling: Police column

We have seen concerns about it around the Royal estate in Edlington, and in Conisbrough recently.

And now over the last last month or so, we have seen it surface as an issue in Adwick and Woodlands as well, in the north of the area.

But recently we have taken action which we hope will help with the problem.

When you’re looking to deal with antisocial behaviour, there are several pathways available. You can try to take things through the criminal courts, where evidence needs to be beyond reasonable doubt.

Or you can use civil legislation, where the court expects evidence to be on the balance of probabilities.

What that means, is that through the civil courts, it is sometimes possible to get a civil injunction when you may not get a criminal conviction.

With assistance from Doncaster Council, we can go through the civil courts for injunctions with conditions barring people suspected of anti-social behaviour from going to certain areas, with the power of arrest attached if they break those injunctions.

At present, we are building cases along with the council in parts of Doncaster West, such as Conisbrough, Edlington and Adwick.

Now we have just gained one such injunction – in Conisbrough.

It was served on a boy aged 14 last week. The condition attached to the injunction is that the boy cannot enter Conisbrough town centre.

We worked together with Doncaster Council to achieve this. They couldn’t have done it without us, and we couldn’t have done it without them.

It is not the only action taken in Conisbrough. A 16-year-old boy and a girl aged 15, suspected of being involved in anti-social behaviour, have been arrested for criminal damage and public order offences. They’re now on police bail.

It is not just Conisbrough where were taking action.

Since concerns arose about nuisance in Adwick and Woodlands, we have taken action there too. The antisocial behaviour there has largely been around abusive language in certain areas, like outside the leisure centre.

The latest development there is that we have arrested two individuals for low level theft, criminal damage and public order offences. One is aged 14, and the other is aged 15. They have been arrested and released on police bail, with a condition of the bail that they stay away from Adwick Leisure Centre, Outwood Academy (Adwick), and the Co-op at Woodlands while investigations are continuing.

Antisocial behaviour has also been an issue on the Royal estate in Edlington. A lot of it has been around issues like broken windows.

A few weeks ago we arrested a youth aged 12 for public order offences. He has also been put on police bail, with a condition that he does not visit the Royal estate.

As well as antisocial behaviour, Edlington has had an issue with drug dealing and we’ve had a couple of successes in that area. A male was stopped in his car and arrested for possession with intent to supply. He was found with what we think was £800 worth of cannabis. The investigation is ongoing.

And last week, four people were arrested in Staveley Street, on the Royal estate, for suspected possession of class A drugs.

We have also seen action over drugs in Mexborough, where we have been trying to step up patrols in the last month.

An arrest was made and suspected class A drugs seized when a men was caught in the park off Manvers Road.

And class A drugs were dropped by a man who was being pursued by our officers on Flowitt Street. The same thing happened on Wood Street, but on a different date, and with a different individual being chased.

We did not catch the people involved, but it disrupted dealing.

This week we carried out a warrant at Windhill Crescent, where a man was arrested for possession and intent to supply cannabis. And £4,000 in cash was seized under the proceeds of crime act.

Off road biking continues to be an issue, and a bike was recently seized in Conisbrough, with the rider facing a court case for riding with no insurance.

Finally, we have seen a number of incidents in Bentley involving what we refer to as secondary fires. These are usually things like rubbish fires, where people have set piles of rubbish alight.

We are trying to do work to deal with this with the fire service, and we would appreciate any help from the public on this. People tend to call the fire service, but do not necessarily call us.

It is a concerning trend, as fire can get out of control or spread, and any information from the public would be gratefully received. You can call 101, report things online at the South Yorkshire Police website or anonymously through Crimestoppers 0800 555111.