Zero tolerance on yobbish behaviour

11:06am Saturday 23rd August 2008

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Police in Chippenham have announced a zero tolerance approach to dealing with unruly youths after a record number of antisocial incidents over the summer holidays.

In the past five days alone, more than ten separate incidents have been reported to police concerning gangs of school children causing havoc in the streets of the town.

Police officers have said the problem has escalated beyond control over the summer months.

Reports have been made of children breaking into school grounds, stealing roof tiles, spraying graffiti on to school walls, group brawls in the streets, scaling rooftops of three storey shops in the High Street and breaking into building sites.

Acting sergeant at Chippenham police, PC Matt Jaccobs, said: "We have been inundated with reports of groups of youths acting in an antisocial way in the town over the last month or so.

"We have had to deal with a large number of incidents where groups of teenagers have got into school properties and have been causing a nuisance.

"They must be aware that there are consequences to acting in this way.

"If we find them in school grounds when the school is closed, they will be issued with a warning under Section 547 of the Education Act and if they ignore this and re-offend they will be arrested.

"The same goes for gangs of youths causing trouble elsewhere in the town - they will be given a Direction to Leave notice and cannot come back to the area for 48-hours.

"The children who are climbing on top of buildings and into building sites are posing a serious risk to their own health.

"I would urge parents to get involved in monitoring their children's behaviour and be aware of what they are getting up to."

One of the worst affected areas is Ivy Lane Primary School where offenders have scaled the roof and pulled out tiles and scrawled the walls with graffiti.

Gangs of underage drinkers also break into the playground on a regular basis and drink large quantities of alcohol.

Neighbour Irene Taylor, who lives in Spanbourn Avenue, said: "When you ask them to stop they just give you a mouthful of abuse and try to intimidate you."