A mobile spy camera is to be used on a troubled Shropshire housing estate to target youths indulging in anti-social behaviour.
Complaints about groups of youths in the Ditherington area of Shrewsbury have been made to both police and Severnside Housing.
The social landlord says residents have become so fed up that they have now decided to take action.
The streets affected include Whitehouse Gardens, Wingfield Close and Wingfield Gardens.
Nicola Robinson, tenant services manager at Severnside Housing, said: “Following complaints of people causing nuisance behaviour in Ditherington we are working closely with residents and the police to take action.
“This will include having a mobile CCTV camera in the area to help the police as they gather evidence. We would urge any residents with further information in the meantime to contact us or the police directly.”
Councillor Malcolm Price said he had been in touch with residents who were concerned about the problems. He claimed that about 12 homes had been affected by the anti-social behaviour.
Councillor Price said: “Whenever the police or anyone comes it’s like a starburst effect and they just disappear.
“Sometimes there are collections of more than 20 youths causing trouble and criminal damage to other properties and it’s not fair to local residents.”
Maria Hawkaluk, spokeswoman for West Mercia Police, said: “We are working with the community and other partner agencies to help resolve the issues.”
Meanwhile plans to install new spy cameras aimed at tackling anti-social behaviour at Longden Coleham and Frankwell Quay have been approved - despite objections that the latter would spoil the surroundings.
The Frankwell camera, which will cover areas such as The Stew, Welsh Bridge and sections of the towpath, will be mounted on a 10-metre high steel black column.
It will also cover Mardol Gardens which has seen a number of potential suicide attempts.
Councillor Judith Williams claimed it would spoil the conservation area and was located in the wrong position but planning officers used delegated powers to approve the application.
By Russell Roberts
22 Comments
Surely this cannot be true in the utopia that is Shrewsbury?
H, they,ll probably blame it on kids from Telford
They’ll just pull their hoods up and no one will know who they are. I’m so fed up with kids being horrible.
Its not the kids - its the parents who do give a damm about the children they bring into the world.
Bad parenting leads to bad children.
People are fined for bringing up a dog incorrectly - yet no such fine exists for bringing up a child badly.
I say fine bad parents 300 pound each time there child steps out of line and that will solve the problems
Do we still have a police service?
We used to have a police Service but the Human rights bill prevents the Police from being able to do the job they are employed to do.
In the 70’s and 80’s if a youngster was misbehaving a Police officer was able to put the fear of god into him now with the human rights laws they are no longer able to act.
If a burgular enters your house and you defend your family and house - you will get arrested not him.
Until we get rid of the human rights law things will not improve.
I agree that some parents don’t care, but most do and it’s been made harder to keep your child under control. Children have all the power now (ask the helpers on parentline). If you smack or keep them in against their will, you can be reported by the child. You stop their pocket money and they’ll steal. If you want your 13 year old to get a job you can’t they are too young or it has to be a paper round and there are just not enough to go round. If all parents joined forces and said No more often it would be a start. Any child under the age of 18 out after 9.00pm should be stopped and taken home. As a parent a law like that would help a lot.
ADH suggests that “any child under the age of 18 out after 9.00pm should be stopped and taken home.”
Does this apply to working men and women who happen to be under the age of 18?
Does this apply to our 17 year old soldiers who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan?
We Do have a Police service. What we need is a Police Force.
H. St. John Peasbody - Maybe any child under the age of 16 should be taken home by the police and the parents given a 500 pound fine for not being in control of a dangerous child ie as we are fined 60 pounds for speeding in a car etc.
As someone in the “know” on the subject of Policing can I say that what we need are people that know something of “policing” and look like and act like Police Officers, men and women. The job has degenerated to a state where those people in it know little of “professional policing” and they neither look like or act like Police Officers. As Y Mab Darogan say’s in the 60s and 70s, Coppers would have sorted this lot out good and proper in a couple of days. The rot set into the Police Service in the 80s when a University degree and “mushroom/butterfly” type senior officers were deemed more credible than those who knew what the “real” job was about. The result, brilliantly educated senior officers with hardly one iota of “Policing” knowledge and ability amongst them. The result is there for all who take an interest in the Police to see. They have totally lost the plot.
I am sorry but I enjoy hearing about bad things happening in Shrewsbury. I know it’s not a good thing to say but the snobby attitude of a lot of the residents makes me feel that way. To hear them talk nothing bad ever happens in Shrewsbury…well sorry but it does.Wake up!!
What a absolute disgrace this all is.
WHERE is our Police Service - and what are they REALLY doing? (should be “Force”) as Norman Foster (in #9) points out.
To quote the article:
Councillor Price said: “Whenever the police or anyone comes it’s like a starburst effect and they just disappear.
So:
Is it not EVIDENT from this qoute that ALL the police need to do is:
Be a bit more “inventive” here, and do their job “properly”. (A bit of real police on the beat/undercover work? - find out “who’s who” - gather a bit of “insider info” etc - as I’ve said before on these posts - CCTV is NOT THE ANSWER!!)
As for the “kids” dispersing…
I expect it’s a bit like the old Joke - “No wonder the Germans lost the war, we heard you coming” !
I expect the police arrive in vehicles, lights flashing, horns blaring …. so that….. by the time they get there, they “know” they won’t have to do anything (because they can’t , cos of “yuman rights” (#6 Y Mab Darogan)
So, the message to the “enemy” has been given in good time:
“disperse troops, enemy arriving !!.
I expect the kids responsible treat it as a huge game !
It makes you wonder how we deal with fighting real crime, but then:,
If you look at the news, see how much “resource” was thrown at the Darwin couple who tried to “defraud the system”….. ah …. BUT …..
of course….. MONEY and the ESTABLISHMENT (insurance companies etc) was involved then, not basic crime issues affecting the “ordinary
individual” !
So can we see a pointer here as to what really matters to our law enforcement agencies?
I really despair at where this country is going!
GOOD! thanks be for the cctv - its a lifeline for communities who need to live in security, it works and we’re glad its hear
i dont think us lads from ditherington (DIVI) are really that bad we are polite - we dont do this because of who we are we do it because of the place we live. it’s not the parents it’s the estate itself. leave us alone stop trying to ruin our lifes.
give us a break we are just a bunch of kids having a laugh we dont mean any harm to no one i dont see why people are scared of ditherington we wont hurt any one just give the chance to prove it
WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO GET ALL THE ATTENTION WE ARE JUST KIDS LIKE YOU SAID?
Kids who have no CONCEPT of consideration to other members of the community where you live.
If the older generation went into your houses, broke all your computer games, trashed your bedrooms would that be ok? Could we put that down to adults just being adults
NO CHANCE!!! THE AREA IS A RIGHT DODGY PLACE
Hi Deepak Patel,
So you are happy to be “watched” anomomously by CCTV operators, who are going to react instantly (I think not!) to every little thing that happens? or, more likely, are they just going to wait until they see something nasty breaking out, call up their collegues “on the ground”, who, by the time they get there, find it’s too late?
OR,
Would you prefer a regular and discreet police presence, who got to know YOU, AND the “kids”, and worked out what is REALLY happening, Who’s doing what, and then worked out what to do about it ? …..
and,
if Nicky (in replies 15,16 ) really means what she says, (I’m assuming a girl) then the police can get to know her as well, and maybe, just maybe, that might put an end to it.
What I DON’T want is to be spied upon in every aspect of my life by the creeping paralysis of CCTV.
CCTV will NEVER work - it’s only a temporary sticking plaster for a never healing sore.
You need to cut out the rot from the core, not monitor & mask the problem, which is all that CCTV will ever do.
I am with the above posters who call for a police force not a ‘police service’, it is this kind of pc obsessed nonsense that has led to their meek approach and made the police toothless in the first place.
Then again people get what they vote for!
Whoever johnny jones is how the hell do you know that we live in a right dodgy area for all we know you could be no better than us how do we know you dont live in the dodgy area stop critisizing us and sort yourself out