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Chief Constable Mike Fuller could not have picked a more appropriate time to visit Canterbury and praise the city centre dispersal order aimed at cracking down on anti-social behaviour.

As he toured Dane John Gardens to see how new powers for dealing with persistent offenders were working, the first person arrested for breaching the order was appearing in court.

Homeless man Adriaan De Jong was arrested in the gardens just 24 hours before Mr Fuller’s visit for failing to leave the area when asked by officers.

The 56-year-old was sentenced at Canterbury Magistrates’ Court to 120 days in prison. He had been with a group of men who were drinking in the park.

Explaining the powers available to his officers, Mr Fuller said: “If people are behaving in an anti-social manner, if they’re drunk, if they’re discarding drugs paraphernalia irresponsibly, the officers can deal with them very easily and quickly and that’s what they’ve been doing.”

Watch and listen to Mike Fuller in the video above

Under the 2003 Anti-Social Behaviour Act, police also have the power to order groups of people to leave central parts of the city for 24 hours.

PCSO Sarah Harding, who keeps on eye on the gardens as part of her patrol, said: “We’ve had a number of people moved on and it’s made the place a nicer area.”

For the day of Mr Fuller’s visit a mobile police station was set up in the gardens to give the public an opportunity to meet their local neighbourhood policing team.