York residents have described the strain caused by anti-social behaviour in their neighbourhood – as police say they think it’s being under-reported.
Officers say they need to know about every incident affecting life in the Chapelfields area so they can crack down on trouble.
One woman who didn’t want to be identified told YorkMix Radio she was suffering a lot of stress because of the problems.
“The second you kind of hear the big groups coming down the alley you know what’s coming. They are banging, swearing, kicking fences down and drinking excessively,” she said.
“The police are trying but there needs to be more police on the streets. I have a tremendous amount of respect for North Yorkshire Police and everything that they do.
“But I know that they’re under as much pressure as every workforce is right now but there is not enough of them.
“As for these youths, well there is no empathy anymore. I think a lot of work needs to happen in schools and at home too.
“There’s just no consequences either. As a kid I would have been lynched, I would have been in so much trouble but that it’s just not happening.”
She says that parents have to play their part in making clear to the children that this is not acceptable behaviour and they need to make suitable sanctions stick.
If they ground their children then it’s not helpful to see them out and about an hour later as often happens, she said.
‘Come and speak to us’
PCSO Danny Stannard came up with the idea of last night’s drop-in event to talk to residents and some of the kids too.
“We feel there’s a problem under-reporting. So basically, we’re not getting the reports from the public.
“We are getting information from partners, like schools and other agencies that suggest that there is a problem here but not so much from the public.
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“So tonight is really all about as all coming together, encouraging people to come out and speak to us.”
YorkMix asked if the delay in getting through on 101 was the real issue with under-reporting.
“Potentially, I think there’s a couple of issues, The 101 problem we know, however, it is being looked into.
“There are other ways of reporting to us, we’ve got the online reporting system. And that’s a very good way of reporting to us when you’ve got something to tell us about.
“So you’re basically seeing a crime, and you want to report it to us, at least then we are aware that there has been a problem in that area.
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“Because what’s happening at the moment is we are not being told about potential crime, and therefore we’re not able to respond to it.”
Is the real answer was actually to just have more police officers on patrol? PCSO Stannage says they need to find out exactly when there is trouble, where it is happening and then once they know that they can direct more officers into the area.
“That, he said, is why they need to know exactly what is going on and the public can help by always reporting incidents.”
North Yorkshire Police Online Reporting is here .