Extra patrols in Southend as dispersal order continues

A man has been arrested, a dispersal order remains in place and officers are continuing to patrol Southend following a disturbance in the city.

The message from Essex Police is really clear – do not come to Southend if you are looking to cause trouble as we will be waiting for you.

The dispersal order, put in place under Section 35 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime & Policing Act, allows our officers to disperse people to prevent harassment, alarm, distress or crime. It covers a vast area including Southend High Street, Queensway through to Hamlet Court Road and the seafront.  This will now remain in place until 8pm on Sunday.

A further order - put in place under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act- also remains in place until 8.45pm on Sunday evening. This allows officers to search people or vehicles for offensive weapons without suspicion in the designated area.

Officers have already made one arrest in connection with Friday’s disorder – a 15-year-old boy has been arrested on causing grievous bodily harm. He remains in custody where he is being questioned by detectives.

Detectives and officers are continuing to carry our extensive enquiries – including reviewing CCTV and mobile phone footage – and are working quickly to identify further suspects.

Extra officers are also being brought into the city this evening, Saturday 2 May, to keep people safe. They will include officers from our Operational Support Group and Dog Units.

Southend Local Policing Inspector Penny McQuade said: “Our message is really clear to people – Southend is open for business and enjoyment but it is closed for crime and those wishing to cause trouble.
“The events of last night were completely unacceptable, two young people suffered potentially life changing facial injuries while a number of others were hurt and those who witnessed it will no doubt have been frightened and concerned.
“We are not prepared to tolerate crime or anti-social behaviour and to this end we will continue investigating, arresting those responsible and patrolling the town to ensure it is safe and peaceful for our community to enjoy.
“We are really grateful to the community and businesses who called us really quickly and of course to the Southend Community Safety Unit who supported us throughout.”

Officers were called to Southend on Friday evening at around 7.50pm to reports of a fight taking place on the city’s High Street. During the incident, which involved large numbers of young people, weapons were seen and two victims suffered knife wounds to the face.

As we are continuing to investigate we would like to hear from anyone who has not yet spoken to us about last night’s incident, particularly anyone who may have mobile phone or Dash Cam footage.

If you have any further information please contact us  as soon as possible.

You can let us know by submitting a report online or by using our Live Chat service. 

Our Live Chat service is available on our website 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can send and receive real-time messages with an online operator.

To use the service, select the ‘Live Chat’ icon at the bottom right of your screen when you're on our website.

Or you can call us on 101 quoting incident 1298 of Friday 1 May.