Opinion divided over powers which came into force on Monday

AT 6am on Monday a curfew was imposed on a large swathe of Camden Town, Primrose Hill and Kentish Town. Not because of civil disorder or unrest, but to stop gangs of hooded teenagers marauding during the summer months.
Under the government’s 2003 anti-social behaviour act, the ‘dispersal notice’ gives the police special powers to split up groups of more than two people of any age involved in anti-social behaviour, and to take home children – those under 16 – who are out after 9pm. The dispersal notice will last until October. If they refuse they face a heavy fine or prison.
There has undoubtedly been problems with some gangs. Only last month the New Journal reported how a 15-strong gang of hooded teenagers ran amok in Camden Town smashing pub windows.
But other teenagers say they are being punished because of a minority.
Around 9pm on Friday the Denton Boys walked out of the block from which they take their name in Prince of Wales Road, and sat on a group along a low wall.
With their hoods, bicycle masks, gold rings and scowling faces it is easy to believe the boys, who are all 14, are capable of being up to no good.
But they don’t necessarily fit the stereotype. “The dispersal zone won’t work,” says one. “We’ll just go somewhere else. There’s nothing to do around here. There’s no clubs. The police hassle us. Once we were going out with our youth worker and a load of police came.”
“We’re bored,” chimes in another. “We want to go on a scrambling course. We want to work with engines.”
Around the corner a group of 16-year-old boys are drinking Stella and smoking cigarettes in the street. They get served, they say, by striking up a relationship with the owners of off licences. “We just chill,” says one.
“It’s not a gang. We’re just a group of lads. If they split us up we’ll just gather again round the back of the flats.”
“I don’t think it’s fair,” adds his friend. “If they gave us somewhere to go, we’ll go. What are they going to do? Confiscate my jumper because it’s got a hood on it?”
“The youth clubs round here are pointless though,” the first youth continues. “It’s better to be on the streets. You don’t know what’s going to happen. We’ve all got hopes and dreams though. I’m going to be a sports instructor. I’m down for seven grades A to C at GCSE. Just because we’re on the streets and don’t speak all la de da doesn’t mean we’re thick.”
In Primrose Hill – where the homes of schools minister David Miliband and broadcaster Joan Bakewell are in the new dispersal zone – the reaction is more supportive.
Mr Guna Gounder, manager of Shepherd’s Foods, said the youths come from outside the area, working in packs to steal from his shop.
He said: “They come in gangs. One distracts our staff, the other holds the door, whilst two or three others take what they can. This is a close-knit community – they are definitely not from around here. The posh kids from Primrose Hill do not act like this.”
Monica Rusek, the manager of Bohemia on Regent’s Park Road, said I think the curfew is a great idea, although having it from 9pm may not make much difference. Like a lot of the shops and cafes here we close at 6pm – the curfew won’t affect us.”
She added: “I see the gangs each day – sometimes they come into the shop and I just hope that another customer comes in quick.”
Residents and shopkeepers agreed there are two gangs, one of 11-12 year olds on bikes and one of 15-16 year olds who commit street robberies and intimidate passers by. June Welsh, who has worked in R J Welsh hardware store in Regent’s Park Road for 50 years, was concerned that the biking gang might do themselves some damage. She said: “They ride around with no light in the middle of the road. I worry for their safety not mine, although they can be quite intimidating.”
Anthony Brooks, Camden’s former police chief and now the council’s head of community safety, said: “It’s a problem that’s been brewing for about the last 12 months. We’re not nipping it in the bud, but dealing with an established problem.” He emphasised that the zones are just one tool in an array of measures to deal with disorder, including sending out youth workers to engage kids in sport.
“It’s not as easy as setting up youth clubs,” he says. “Hanging around on the streets seems to be a choice. People forget how residential Camden Town is. These kids say ‘these are our roads’. Often territory comes into it.”
Opera director Jonathan Miller, who lives in Camden Town, said: “I think we have to go deeper into this problem. Why are they alienated and hanging around the streets? Probably because no one provides any facilities for them. In the short term the zone may have an immediate affect. Or will it increase resentment by constantly shifting them around, pushing them into a zone in which they feel alienated, excluded and disliked?”