Gloucestershire Constabulary has warned young people to avoid anti-social behaviour in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, during the upcoming Easter holidays. This follows reports on Saturday 21 March 2026 of a large group of teenagers stealing from shops, letting off fireworks, and disrupting traffic in the Abbeymead area.
Inspector James O’Neill from the local policing team has asked parents and carers to take responsibility for their children by knowing where they are and who they are with. To manage potential trouble, officers will use legal powers known as dispersal orders to break up groups of two or more people. These orders allow police to tell people to leave a specific area for up to 48 hours if they are causing distress or alarm to the public.
The warning comes at a time when local officers are increasing their presence on the streets. Operation Ash, which provides high-visibility patrols, carried out more than 300 hours of work in the city during March 2026. Recent data from Plumplot shows that overall crime levels in Gloucester are currently at 126 per cent of the national average.
Similar police orders were used to clear groups from the city centre and the Gloucester Quays area in September 2025 and December 2025 following spikes in disruption. Figures from Scos.co.uk indicate there were 3,589 incidents of anti-social behaviour reported in the city over the last year, which is about 26 incidents for every 1,000 residents.
Police are still looking for information regarding the group involved in the recent trouble in Abbeymead. Anyone who can identify the teenagers involved in the incidents on 21 March is asked to contact the police and mention incident 470.
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