POLICE officers in Bude have recently started using fairly new but little known legislation in their bid to address anti-social behaviour in the locality.

Section 27 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 was introduced to allow police officers to deal effectively with alcohol related crime and disorder.

The legislation allows a police officer to direct people they suspect have been, or are likely to be involved in alcohol fuelled crime, or anti-social behaviour to leave a defined area, and not to return within a specified time up to 48 hours. Failure to comply with the direction will render the person liable to prosecution.

A police spokesman said magistrates in Bodmin recently convicted a man for failing to comply with a direction to leave, invoking a fine of £50 with £85 costs. Another man has been summonsed to court for the same alleged offence.

Sgt Julian Morris of the Local Policing Team said: "This is a great piece of legislation and this result shows that we are dealing robustly with anti-social behaviour. We have listened to the public's concerns and along with increasing high visibility patrols around the town centre we will be using this legislation more and more to deal positively with those who get drunk and behave in an anti-social manner."