Good afternoon,

On Tuesday, you may have seen or heard that we issued a Section 34 dispersal order in Rawtenstall Town Centre, as well as the Tesco, Asda and New Hall Hey Retail Park area following an incident with a large group of youths wearing balaclavas and carrying weapons, and we just wanted to give you an update.

A group was successfully dispersed as a result of this and enquiries are currently ongoing to identify who the perpetrators of this disorder where. This has seen our neighbourhood teams carrying out extensive CCTV work to help aid a successful investigation and those people identified will either receive a visit from us or be dealt with for any offences.

Over the last couple of days, you will have seen an increased police presence in the area, this is nothing to be concerned about, we just want to reassure the community that we take incidents such as this seriously.

Kind Regards

Pcso Heidi Kirkbright