Hampshire Constabulary must not be 'heavy-handed' with travellers, says police and crime commissioner Donna Jones
HAMPSHIRE Constabulary must not be "heavy-handed" when dealing with unauthorised encampments under strengthened powers to disperse them, the county's police and crime commissioner (PCC) has said.
Throughout the summer, travellers have been setting up camp at sites across the area, writes David George of the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
New wording in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (1994) means that police can take action when there are six vehicles at an encampment, rather than the previous criteria of 12.
But PCC Donna Jones said that although this gives officers the ability to do more about smaller encampments they must not be "heavy-handed".
She said: "After the general election there was talk about making it easier for local authorities to move unauthorised encampments along, but under the Human Rights Act these communities do have rights and we’ve got to be mindful of that.
"Police still have to be satisfied that a ‘significant’ threshold has been met – for example, if an encampment sets up on the edge of King George V Playing Fields in Cosham then that isn’t a significant impact because the football pitches can still be played on.
"If they set up on the pitches it’s deemed significant because the facilities can no longer be used by the public.
"If the police are heavy-handed in issuing Section 61 orders the police can be sued by these travellers, and this does happen.
"The police have to be mindful in assessing that threshold and that’s really where MPs come in. Parliament needed to examine that threshold and rewrite the wording.
"The new legislation doesn’t go far enough because the police assessment criteria is still there."
Councils also have a duty to carry out a welfare check on all encampments to ensure everyone is healthy and being taken care of.
Another change made to the law is that an encampment now cannot return to a site for 12 months after being ejected.
Mrs Jones believes this will make a difference in the long-run, but has not stopped travellers going from place to place in Hampshire, racking up clean-up costs for local authorities.
She said: "A notice has to be served and that will normally take four or five days to get the paperwork together through the courts.
"I estimated that there was probably upwards of £1m of public money spent each year by councils and private landowners playing cat and mouse with unauthorised encampments across the county.
"There’s still a long way to go and we have to be accommodating for those who chose to live this lifestyle while also protecting those who pay taxes to use these facilities without being significantly impacted."
