Park Pranks and Kingsway Youths
Interesting group of young people in the big park tonight, doing what I can only describe as "being Anti-Social". The group were using bad language and using trolleys on the ramps, making an horrendous noise and no doubt damaging the equipment in there by their acts.
Well done to the person who called the police, who then moved these young people on.
Having spent many years working with young people I wonder whether the Residents Association would consider having a sub-group for the young people of the Kingsway?
Involving the young people in decisions that are made and asking them to share their opinions about what’s going on in their community. The more you involve young people, the more they will take ownership of the place and potentially police the area themselves. They can develop Community Projects within the community and if set up correctly, apply for funding to support this.
An idea I have is that the young people could design a mural for the tunnel and work with local artists to develop a design and complete it. (Whether it’s feasible is another story)!
It’s all about young people becoming active within their community and the community supporting them to do so.
If we ignore the problem its not going to go away it will just be moved on and become someone else’s problem within the community.
Happy Days!
This post was submitted by Daisily.
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on Friday, September 5th, 2008 at 4:30 am
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September 5th, 2008 at 4:37 am
Hi Daisily,
Some interesting ideas about ways to involve the local youths in the community.
We have a (closed) Residents Association (committee) meeting tonight, so I’ll bring up the idea of including a “Young Residents” sub-group; if the idea is well-received we can discuss it in our next open RA Meeting.
September 5th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
I agree with Daisily that such an idea may work.
Regarding the underpass, this has been a bug bear of mine for some time given that it is the 2nd of only 2 ways to enter our village, and living so close I am ashamed at its current state.
I am happy to assist where needed. Well done
September 6th, 2008 at 6:53 am
Hi there,
2 weeks ago my 8yr old was terrorized by a large group of 12-13 yr old’s. He was forced up on to the shelter by the BMX ramps. They stole his shoes and threw them across the park and swore at him and threatened him. His friend was with him and she came running back to get me, terrified. I shouted at these kids and told them they should be ashamed of themselves. I think it’s disgusting that my 8 yr old can’t go to the park with his friend without getting bullied.
Just yesterday, my partner was walking our 8 y/o home from school with our baby, when 3 young teenagers threw stones at him and the baby. When told not to do it again they were very abusive. Then they threw stones at my 8yr on his bike, only to run off swearing.
If I knew who their parents were or what school they go to I would go directly around to see them, but I don’t. If I come across these children again I will call the Police. This is outrageous anti-social behavior.
In my personal opinion these children don’t need a project or to be given responsibility, they need punishment to be taught respect for other people. All these kids are bored, that’s why they behave like this, excuse, is utter rubbish in my opinion. They get away with it because the can.
September 6th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Hi lissie,
Thanks for posting; sorry to hear about your tribulations, no wonder you are mad and frustrated
Those incidents are terrible and should already have been reported to the Police in my opinion… Bullying is reprehensible and throwing stones anywhere near a baby is outrageous.
It could be that the Police are aware of the identity of the youths involved, so a simple description might be enough. Also - there is CCTV installed at the Park so it’s entirely possible that the first incident you mentioned may have been recorded and can be reviewed (given the date and approximate time).
You should also submit a report (using the form available here) so that these incidents and the culprits involved will receive some priority from the Community Police.
Of course nobody is implying that this sort of behaviour is excusable and the idea of getting youths involved in the community is not intended to reward or excuse idiots like these… It sounds like community service might be more appropriate for this particular bunch
September 6th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Hi Lissie
I personally think they should bring back compulsory National Service, that’ll sort the men out from the boys! But thats another story.
I understand your frustrations and agree that these young people need to be taught respect for other people and improve their behaviour whilst out in public. But if they dont get this from home life where are they going to get it?
I’m not out for rewarding bad behaviour but trying to prevent it from happening. I genuinely believe that by involving these young people in their community it may ease the problems people face. Also, if they know the police will be called when things happen theyre not going to be able to get away with it.
On the other hand the young people causing the problem are only the minority of young people in the village and unfortunately they give the rest of the young people a bad name.
Cheers for offering you help Lifeboat i’m sure you’ll be called upon at some point.
September 7th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Daisily I’m with you on the National Service way! Being an ex military man I can assure you they would learn some respect! I saw the yobs throwing the trolleys around on Friday evening and really should have said something or rang the Police, but the last thing I want is for the yobs to target my house because I’ve had a go! What is the best number to ring for the community police??
September 7th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Hi Nobby
I was wondering actually whether Gloucester had a local number to call that’s the equivalent of 999 but not an emergency (if that makes sense). Where I used to live we had a local number we could call and if it wasn’t seen as an emergency we would get Community Safety Wardens come out or the Police Community Support Officers. These guys also represented themselves at community meetings and if they could help sort out any of the issues or get us further information on things they would.
On the subject of Trolleys, I see that the 2 from the park now have no wheels and the frames are all bent. Is there any way we can dispose of these does anyone know? There are also many more trolleys around the estate which I don’t mind gathering up if they can be disposed of. I’d rather they weren’t near my car with a child in being pushed up and down the road
September 7th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Ahhh I see we have no edit function!
After thinking about it I found this number on the local contacts page
Police (non-emergency) 0845 0901234
Can someone clarify that if we ring this number the call will still be answered but not treated as 999?
Cheers
September 7th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
We rang the police but we just wish more people would. From making the phone call to the above number and the police arriving it was 10 minutes.
Once the trouble making youths realise that anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated they will move on. The CCTV camera is there and working but police only look on it if icidents are bought to their attention.
September 9th, 2008 at 3:40 am
Hi folks,
First of all, the Police non-emergency number (0845 0901234) is listed on the Local Contacts page (as Daisily found) and on the Community Police Reports Page.
That number goes to the local station (Quedgeley) and is not an emergency number.
In addition, if you wish the Police to be aware that a problem exists but do not need them to attend (eg: after the event), please complete a report.
I believe that Tesco will collect the trolleys if you ring them, (I can’t believe people bring them all the way here)
You can’t edit comments once they’ve been published (that’s a common function for forums rather than blogs).
September 9th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
As soon as the park was built it was vandelised, so CCTV was installed and still there are problems. Why bother asking the local youths what they want, they will only damage it and ruin it for everybody else. Sorry to be negative but it seems to me all the kids want to do is just cause damage.