Wigan woman receives criminal behaviour order as police crackdown on anti-social behaviour
A Wigan woman has been banned from bus stations as police aim to prevent repeat offending.
Carol Fahy, of Wigan, is prohibited from entering or using any bus station in the Greater Manchester area, and as operated by Transport for Greater Manchester.
This order was put in place due to anti-social behaviour reports, and will remain in place until November 2026.
The 57-year-old may still use bus stops not within a bus station.
Officers across each district are continuing to utilise numerous resources to tackle persistent criminality – including the use of Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs).
CBOs are used to target individuals who are repeat demand generators, and have been identified as often engaging in criminality in a specified area. They are given to people who have been convicted of an offence with the aim to prevent them engaging in further criminal behaviour.
The offences can range from shoplifting to wider anti-social behaviour. Since April 2023, hundreds of CBOs have been made, with 565 still active and in-play from that time.
While a CBO is a civil order, breaching one is a criminal offence, and may result in arrest, charges, and punishments including imprisonment, fines, or community service.
Local neighbourhood teams regularly review the tools that they have at their disposal, and CBOs are successfully used as a way of punishing people who cause distress to the lives of law-abiding citizens.
In particular, town centre officers can grant dozens to prevent repeat offenders from visiting shopping and leisure hotspots, and arrest them if they breach the conditions.
CBO specifications can include areas, specific shops, or even particular brands and chains.
Chief Supt John-Paul Ruffle, from GMP’s Force Prevention Branch, said: “CBOs are a valuable tool to fight crime across Greater Manchester, ensuring that offenders are starved of the areas in which they operate and cause a persistent nuisance to people’s lives.
“The breach of one of the orders can result in an arrest and even imprisonment, which acts as a deterrent to those who think they can cause harm and issues whenever they feel like they want to.
“In addition, CBOs can last anywhere from a few months to being indefinite, meaning that the worst offenders can be prevented from their criminal behaviour for the foreseeable future.”