Police chief on dispersal orders

I asked chief superindentent Clout what he thought of the borough's dispersal orders and whether he thought they were successful.
He told us "they're brutal but we they have to be used." Enforcing them was a last resort, he said, but also necessary in order to tackle gang crime. He then asked me what I thought. (He clouts with kindness this one)
I told him: "No, I don't think so."
He asked me why and I said: "Well, they all just come round to my place."
"How do you know?" he asked.

How do I know indeed? I keep myself to myself. I come home, close the door, cook, clean, read, write, play, listen to music, anything really. If see teenagers sitting on the wall I think, they are teenagers sitting on a wall. Once when I was locked out they offered to climb up the first balcony to let me and my son in and they were in the process of doing so when a resident arrived, was able to let me in and I could run up to a neighbour for my spares. By and large, I don't see anything. How do I know?

"Well, not so long ago they assaulted a security officer and they kicked out a glass panel from a top floor balcony and..."

"Right, OK, there may be instances where they move on elsewhere but there are dedicated safer neighbourhood teams in every area who are there to respond to any problems." I was abit thrown because his whole demeanour, the slackening of his body, the relief that seemed to wash over his face told me that he knew exactly where I lived. We've had riot police here and all sorts. There is a Safer Neighbourhood team here, I personally have no complaints. I let the matter drop.

Indeed, as the mother of a small boy, I have to trust what they do. Ages ago, a year or two ago, I read in the CNJ that teenagers were regularly assualted, beaten up, for fun and for mobile phones etc on Hampstead Heath. I want my son to go to secondary school around here, the article frightened me.

Clout told us there was a police officer in most secondary schools. That teams work closely with the school, with pupils. If they hear of a planned fight between rival schools, they will intercept that and use their stop and search powers.

I'm still unclear how they hear about these fights, I asked him how do they decide who to stop and search, do they stop them all? (My 12 year old nephew carried a knife for a while, to "defend"himself, until my brother rumbled him. I didn't say this to Clout).

They've taken lots of knives off kids he said. "We view it as protecting them, not harrassing them." He also said Camden Police are one of the best in the capital for tackling crime. He would say that of course but I've lived in Lambeth, I've heard a man being shot in the head with an air rifle right outside my flat. I chose to believe him. Well what choice do I have?