ASB warning for parents and carers following open invite house party

We are reminding parents to ensure they know where their children are after a house was left damaged following a party advertised as an “open invitation” on Facebook.

The party at the Moorland, Lincoln address had been advertised on the social media platform and an estimated 100 people – many of whom were not known the people living at the property – turned up.

Officers were called at 7.53pm on 18 July after reports that those in attendance had begun breaking things inside the premises. On arrival, they found significant damage both internally and externally, with external doors and windows destroyed, internal doors with holes in them, ceilings smashed, and white goods damaged. The extent of the damage led to electricity being temporarily turned off so the building can be made safe.

The City of Lincoln Council, which owns the property, has yet to determine the overall cost for repairs which may need to be recharged to the tenant.

Many of the people appeared to be under 18, and were openly drinking alcohol. There was believed to be no adult with responsibility present.  

Five separate police incidents were created from multiple calls from the community regarding the disturbance. Police had to attend on multiple occasions with up to 10 officers committed at various times dispersing the crowd which continued to return, frustrating efforts by the local authority to secure the address.

A dispersal notice was placed on the area at 9.12pm which required people to leave the area or potentially face arrest. It was eventually resolved at around 10pm.

We would also like to remind people not to respond to or attend open invitations for parties, particularly if you do not know the person posting the invitation. We are aware another open invitation party has been advertised online for the Moorland area, and want to stress that this is not a genuine invitation. Officers will be called to remove any person attending the address.

Local community teams will be carrying out patrols in the area over the next several days. Tenancy and ASB enforcement action will be taken where appropriate, and anyone identified for criminal offences from the officers’ body worn camera and other investigations will be dealt with.

The incident comes during Anti-social Behaviour Awareness Week.

Community Beat Manager for the local Neighbourhood Policing Team, PC Chris Bayes-Walker, said: "Whether a house or an open area, open invitations to parties are not a good plan; you can’t control the numbers, or the people who will decide to attend. In this case, the party rapidly got out of control, and the result was a significant use of police resource to bring under control.

"Parents and carers have responsibility to know where their children are, and educating them on the consequences of attending house parties, or participating in antisocial behaviour. If we identify youths as responsible for ASB or other offences, parents and carers can expect to either attend custody to collect them, or a knock on the door from officers to arrest them subsequently for the part that they have played in any disorder.

"We would rather neither of those scenarios came to fruition, so we’re asking those with responsibility for children to be aware of their youngster’s intentions, by knowing what they are doing and where they are,  and what and where they are attending. By doing that, they can help everyone enjoy the summer holidays.”