I have been contacted by residents about the increasing problem Anti Social Behaviour caused by youngsters in and around the Holywell town area.
At lunchtime today, I had a really productive meeting with Steve Roberts, the Inspector for Flintshire North and I'm pleased to confirm that things are beginning to calm down again following some of the actions that have been taken recently. The number of cases reported last week was significantly down on the previous month, so things are moving in the right direction.
17 youths have been identified and action having been taken in terms of either criminal or non-criminal interventions.
The Police only have a finite amount of resources and it is important that they focus this on areas of demand. So, my overriding message at this point is this - keep reporting incidents of antisocial behaviour or any other criminal conduct to North Wales Police on 101 or via their website (if it is an emergency use 999). Reporting incidents to the police will likely lead to action, for example increased patrols. I can assure you that the police log, record, and take very seriously every report so that a wider picture can be obtained in order to make that larger case for interventions.
There are many options for the police in terms of how they can deal with youth offenders,. One way, for example, is when the households of these youth offenders are in council social housing properties, the police can report the situation to the local Housing Officer from the county council in order to give the parents a warning as to the behaviour of their child(ren). If 3 warnings are given, there is the ability for a family to be removed from the social housing if they do not keep a lid on the antisocial behaviour. That's obviously a very dramatic intervention and would be a long way down the line of actions that could be taken, but it is certainly an option that it is available and is just another reason why people should make the reports to the police.
In a few weeks' time, I will be delighted to join the Inspector in his new initiative "Calm", the Community Alert and Liaison Meeting, which will bring together the police, town and county councils, housing, youth justice, youth offending teams, and other local agencies to ensure that everyone is pulling in the same direction with an overall plan to tackle the issues. Everyone has a role to play. By the time we need to start calling the police, lots of other things have failed these young people and that situation needs to improve.