The criminals were 'laughing' and the region felt lawless, but has the crackdown now gone too far?

Dispersal orders have been around for a decade but, in Greater Manchester at least, it is a tactic that just wasn't used very much. All that changed after Stephen Watson was installed as the chief constable in in 2021.

His stated mission was to turn around a failing police force whose officers, before his arrival, would not even perform basic tasks like answer the phone quickly or visit victims of burglary. Greater Manchester felt pretty lawless and the criminals were 'laughing'.

Since then, as part of his 'back to basics' manifesto, he has overseen the doubling of the number of arrests and championed a fourfold rise in the number of stop search encounters. "It's called police work - it's what we should do," the chief constable said, undaunted by criticism of the latter in particular, in an interview with the Manchester Evening News in March.

READ MORE: ENTIRE town centre placed under dispersal order after trouble

A central plank of his plan was, and is, an increasing use of dispersal orders which were introduced as part of the 2014 Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act. It gave police powers to direct people suspected of causing trouble away from a specified area for up to 48 hours. Anyone who refuses can be arrested and risks a conviction attracting a fine or even three months in prison.

In Greater Manchester, until 2021, they weren't used very often and, if they were, the order tended to apply to a relatively small area and follow a serious incident, for instance, a gang-related stabbing.

To their critics, they are an indiscriminate 'blunt' weapon which can criminalise innocent, often young, people - but for GMP bosses these days, they are a powerful tool to quell trouble before it happens whether it is football hooligans or protesters bent on violence or drug dealers terrorising an estate.

Not only are GMP using this tactic more frequently, but they are also using them to cover bigger and bigger geographical areas. On December 3, a dispersal order was signed which covered the whole of Bolton town centre. The month before, GMP sparked uproar when it appeared to target Traveller communities visiting Manchester's Christmas markets with another dispersal order, which saw officers turning young Travellers away from the town moments after stepping off trains at Victoria railway station. The order covered the whole of the city centre. The same tactic was used during a summer of sometimes violent protests in Greater Manchester, sparked by the fatal stabbing of three children in Southport.

The policing of 'far right' protests sparked accusations of 'two-tier' policing. Right wing activists like Tommy Robinson and Reform leader Nigel Farage, as well as billionaire businessman Elon Musk, have repeatedly suggested UK police have been softer on people perceived to be on the left of the political spectrum - for instance at Black Lives Matter protests - compared to those on the right.

Former children's commissioner Anne Longfield has serious concerns, however. She said the increasing use of the dispersal orders was a 'potentially dangerous and damaging approach for young people and the community as a whole'. She told the BBC in March: "They're a blunt instrument. They're meant to be an emergency solution. It's not a sustainable way to go about things.

"If there are real concerns about anti-social behaviour...that needs not only a short-term solution but a long-term one too. We can't just get tougher and tougher. What are we going to do, have a dispersal order for a whole town? I don't think so."

If our chief constable was listening to the former children's commissioner, he paid no heed - twice in the last few months his senior officers signed dispersal orders covering the whole of Bolton town centre and the whole of Manchester city centre.

One community that feels particularly aggrieved is the Traveller community many of whose children - coming here ostensibly to enjoy the Christmas markets - were unceremoniously turned away by GMP officers.

Since the furore surrounding the whole episode, Mr Watson has been keeping his head down. There have been no public pronouncements on the merits or otherwise of dispersal orders as a policing tactic, despite the mounting criticism.

He has previously, however, spoken enthusiastically about using this and other tactics, like stop and search, despite what appears to be some tension between his methods and Mayor Andy Burnham's office. The mayor's deputy Kate Green, has called for a 'full report' from GMP on the turning away of young Traveller people last month. As an MP, Ms Green was a co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Gypsies, Travellers and Roma.

As far as Chief Constable Watson is concerned, your politics or ethnicity isn't important for him or his officers, only whether you are committing crime or antisocial behaviour. It's a binary approach - you're either a troublemaker or you're not - which seems to have worked, in that Greater Manchester Police is performing at a much higher level than it was prior to 2021.

But there appears to have been more than a little collateral damage.

In another interview with the Manchester Evening News in May right at the start of a summer of protests and counter protests, Chief Constable Stephen Watson set out a robust defence of his tactics, particularly in the face of accusations of 'two-tier policing'.

He said: "There's this sense that police are hard on some communities and soft on other communities. I reject that. We differentiate between the vast majority of the public who are law-abiding and criminals.

"And what we are seeing is straight-forward criminality and we don't put up with criminality across Greater Manchester, whether you are somebody engaged in burglary or whether you are engaged in violent disorder. We deal with it all. But in particular reference to the disorders we are seeing, there's just no place for it and that's why we come down so very robustly, supported, I should add, by the wider criminal justice system, the Crown Prosecution Service, the courts and ultimately the prisons."

It appears there has been some tension between the chief constable's 'back to basics' mission and the office of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham. Asked if he had felt any 'pushback' from Mr Burnham or anyone else over the increased use of stop and search, Mr Watson pointedly remarked: "I would say no from the public, the people who matter, no."

Bosses at GMP remain steadfast in their use of dispersal orders, despite the recent criticism. They point to their use of another form of dispersal order, an 'open space closure order', on the Freehold estate in Rochdale, to prevent drug dealers congregating in stairwells of 19 blocks of flats last month. The order lasts for three months and bans non-residents from hanging about those flats. So if you're not a resident, you could be arrested.

Chief Superintendent John Ruffle, GMP’s lead on antisocial behaviour (ASB), told the Manchester Evening News: "We know how much harm ASB causes to communities, and tackling it is an important part of policing.

“Our neighbourhood teams patrol around hotspot areas, and we work closely with partners to reach solutions. Last month we secured the first open space closure order in Rochdale after hearing how persistent issues affected the community.

“A dispersal order is another tactic a senior officer may implement to prevent ASB from escalating. The order can be issued based on a wide range of situations, such as when dealing with individuals aged 10 or over engaging in anti-social behaviour, to offer immediate relief to the community.

“They are not our first port of call, and we only use them when necessary. These orders can stay in place for up to 48 hours and, combined with an increase in police presence, are an effective tool in managing situations before they potentially get out of hand.”

And it's not just GMP - forces up and down the country are using them although they stress they should be used 'fairly and appropriately'.

Deputy Chief Constable Andy Prophet, National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for antisocial behaviour, said: “Everyone should be able to live a life free from harassment, intimidation and nuisance behaviour in their own communities. Forces regularly respond to reports of anti-social behaviour, and the public rightly expect the police to take action when there are gatherings of people, regardless of their age, committing crime or making communities feel unsafe.

“Dispersal orders are an important tool for officers responding to anti-social behaviour, disorder and crime in an area. They are proven to prevent repeat occurrences of anti-social behaviour and act as a deterrent to repeat offenders. We recognise the restrictive nature of dispersal orders, and that’s why there are tight regulations in place, to ensure that officers are using them fairly and appropriately.”

Kate Green, the deputy mayor of Greater Manchester who has is responsible for scrutinising GMP, said: "When used appropriately, dispersal orders are an effective tool to protect the public from anti-social behaviour and help keep them safe.

"The decision to implement a dispersal order is an operational matter, which lies with Greater Manchester Police. I will continue to examine their use by GMP and where specific concerns are raised, I will scrutinise their decision-making and hold them to account, if necessary."