30-Mar-2003, 09:53 PM
I don't know what the answer is either. We live in a supposedly "nice" area, but we had problems with young teenagers sitting on our garden wall and dropping their pop bottles and crisp packets into our garden. When I remonstrated with them, they egged the front of the house. It escalated to graffiti on the external gas meter and the pavement by our house, and to dropping condoms and feminine hygiene products (thankfully unused) into the garden. They've been in the garden too and damaged a wall, but when the police came out, they said nothing could be done unless they were actually caught in the act... and even then, they'd blame each other and a prosecution would fail..... if they were even old enough to take to court. Basically there's nothing you can do - except keep a big dog... and then you'd get done if it bit one of 'em!
Recently I've been going to Sainsbury's later on a Saturday evening and when I come out, about 8-ish, there are gangs of around 15 kids, 10 - 12 age group, mucking about riding trolleys round the car park, riding them through the car wash in the petrol station and so on. It's been in the paper the last two weeks that the community police are moving them on for causing a nuisance, and some parents had the cheek to write in and say their kids were doing nothing wrong, why target them? !!! *I* feel a bit intimidated by them and I'm reasonably young and fit. I'd be pretty scared if I was a frail old lady living nearby. Do these parents know or care what their kids get up to? I'd be worried sick if one of mine had been out after dark at that age and I didn't know exactly where they were and who they were with.
As for drugs..... we had to stop anyone who wasn't staff or a patient using the toilets at work, because we had drug users mainlining in the cubicles. The DSS office is behind the clinic and we've had drug dealers waiting on our car park to escort their customers from picking up their dole cheque at the DSS to the post office across the road to cash the cheque and hand over what they owe. Then the police got wise to it (the police station is within sight of the DSS so these dealers were very brazen!) and asked if they could mount a surveillance operation from our car park! 20 years ago we only locked the clinic at the end of the day and if everyone was going out at lunchtime. Now we have digital locks on practically every door - it's like working in Fort Knox! Sign of the times!
Recently I've been going to Sainsbury's later on a Saturday evening and when I come out, about 8-ish, there are gangs of around 15 kids, 10 - 12 age group, mucking about riding trolleys round the car park, riding them through the car wash in the petrol station and so on. It's been in the paper the last two weeks that the community police are moving them on for causing a nuisance, and some parents had the cheek to write in and say their kids were doing nothing wrong, why target them? !!! *I* feel a bit intimidated by them and I'm reasonably young and fit. I'd be pretty scared if I was a frail old lady living nearby. Do these parents know or care what their kids get up to? I'd be worried sick if one of mine had been out after dark at that age and I didn't know exactly where they were and who they were with.
As for drugs..... we had to stop anyone who wasn't staff or a patient using the toilets at work, because we had drug users mainlining in the cubicles. The DSS office is behind the clinic and we've had drug dealers waiting on our car park to escort their customers from picking up their dole cheque at the DSS to the post office across the road to cash the cheque and hand over what they owe. Then the police got wise to it (the police station is within sight of the DSS so these dealers were very brazen!) and asked if they could mount a surveillance operation from our car park! 20 years ago we only locked the clinic at the end of the day and if everyone was going out at lunchtime. Now we have digital locks on practically every door - it's like working in Fort Knox! Sign of the times!