Criminal Behaviour Order issued to prevent ASB in Waverley

The Waverley Neighbourhood team at Surrey Police have welcomed a positive step forward after securing a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) in Farncombe following a trial at Surrey Youth Court yesterday (Wednesday, 4 March).

Following multiple reports of Anti-Social Behaviour from a small group of young people in Farncombe over the past few months, the team made it a priority to help the community. The reported behaviour included verbal abuse, criminal damage and fighting at local train stations. Officers worked with partner agencies including local councils in order to identify those responsible and obtain the evidence to take the matter to court.

A CBO has been granted for a 12 month period, placing restrictions on an individual, who is under 16, preventing them from behaving in a manner which causes unreasonable annoyance or disturbance in a public place. The order also prevents them from entering exclusion zones in Farncombe, Godalming or Guildford when not accompanied by a parent or attending a place of work or education. The order further prevents the individual from associating in public with other named persons.

Inspector Gary Smith, Borough Commander for Waverley said “The first thing that must be acknowledged is that the local community have suffered because of the poor behaviour of a minority of youths.

“I know that at times the community may have felt that little was being done to tackle these issues, but I can assure that a lot of work was going on behind the scenes and I hope this reassures the Farncombe community. The fact that this individual went to court, proves how seriously we are taking this.”

 

“I hope that the presence of the court order will be felt within the community and that the issues that have been faced by local residents will now show a marked decrease. Whilst we will always do all that we can to teach younger members of our society boundaries that mean their behaviours do not adversely impact others, having taken the decision to place a youth before the court demonstrates that we will ensure that criminal offences will be dealt with by the most appropriate means, regardless of an offenders age.”

This Criminal Behaviour Order falls into a wider investigation which remains ongoing.